begin oe_protect.scr
Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Eric Raymond - World Domination 201
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| B. The Microsoft Tax
>|
>| Microsoft's entire pricing, contract, and licensing structure is
>| designed with the primary aim of preventing any other operating-system
>| vendor from getting a foothold on the desktop. They achieve this by
>| making the opportunity cost of pre-installing a non-Windows operating
>| system prohibitively high for any vendor who also needs to ship
>| Windows.
> `----
>
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/world-domination/world-domination-201.html
It's a very interesting paper, and certainly a fascinating take on
hardware development, moore's law and the innovator's dilemma.
Personally, I think it's missing the huge significance of games consoles
morphing into PCs, which is about disruptive technologies.
Typically, a disruptive technology, like Linux, needs to be inexpensive
and be able to do all the major things. This paper argues, quite
correctly, that multi-media is one of the major things which linux must
support, and further, argues that multi-media support in linux is
patchy by codec type.
It also argues that another issue is, as noted above, that normal people
really do need a pre-install.
What's not considered is that in the Apple/Microsoft/Linux battle, there
is another vector not considered, that of alternatives to PCs. This
paper assumes that the successor to the present 32bit IBM-compatibles
will be a 64bit IBM compatible. It supports the argument with the
notion that all the "back catalogue" of parts, pci-cards, old software
and so on will force this as a reality. However, if you read the paper
with care, you'll also note that it accepts that other successful
platforms have failed *in spite of* these very same things.
I remain unconvinced that we'll see another generation of IBM
compatibles at all, at least in traditional numbers. As the paper
notes, the public are increasingly willing to pay for an Apple to solve
their computing problems; this means that something like a PS3 or a Wii
is exceedingly inexpensive /by comparison/ with a Mac.
I think we're about to see a new class of disruptive technology take the
field, around web tablets, phones, PDAs and general mobility, along with
a new class of devices in the lounge, probably controlled by these
mobile devices.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
Thank God a million billion times you live in Texas.
|
|
