__/ [ M ] on Friday 05 May 2006 20:04 \__
> Linonut wrote:
>
>> After takin' a swig o' grog, DFS belched out this bit o' wisdom:
>>
>>> Linonut wrote:
>>>> After takin' a swig o' grog, DFS belched out this bit o' wisdom:
>>>>
>>>>> On the contrary. In my opinion no desktop Linux distro is a threat
>>>>> to Windows. At all. Especially not a Gnome-based one like Ubuntu.
>>>>> No matter how good it is, no matter how free it is, no matter how
>>>>> many open source apps and games and utilities and text editors are
>>>>> included. Windows has the PC world by the balls.
>>>>
>>>> That is probably about the best summary of Microsoft I've ever seen.
>>>>
>>>> I'm putting it into my sig, but will take it out or modify it if you
>>>> object once you see it.
>>>
>>> Thanks for asking.
>>>
>>> In this case I do object a bit, but only because it has my name in it.
>>> Drop the 'paraphrased ...' part and it's a good .sig for a paranoid
>>> Linuxer.
>>
>> Okay. Done.
>>
>>> I object because, in my mind, there's a huge distinction between MS
>>> having the PC world by the balls, and Windows having the PC world by the
>>> balls.
>>
>> How so? MS made Windows, and they use it as their tool to grab vendors
>> and users by the balls.
>>
>>> This requires considering them as two separate entities: a business
>>> organization and a product. My position is that no matter who owns or
>>> sells it, Windows, by virtue of its ubiquity and MS Office and enormous
>>> universe of great apps and vendor hardware support, is so entrenched that
>>> desktop Linux has almost no hope against it.
>>
>> I sort of agree. Windows is a de facto standard, and as such will be
>> difficult to dislodge. I think it will take a long time for Windows to
>> "go away", and it might be Linux that does it in. There are still some
>> issues to work out, and it is not clear that the coders really want to
>> work them all out. I certainly don't, as I'm not a fan of the way
>> Microsoft programmers like to do things.
>>
>> If the rest of the world begins to reject the Windows model (swiss
>> cheese security, your machine is part of the world network, your
>> computer is a tool of entertainment vendors), then MS's grip will slip.
>>
>
> What consumers need is a choice at the point of sale. What they also need
> is for the cost of their operating system to be separated out. At the
> moment they are not really given the chance to make an informed choice. In
> the vast majority of cases the computer is sold pre-loaded with MS Windows,
> and the cost is hidden.
>
> In spite of all the efforts that Ubuntu (and it's siblings) along with
> PCLinuxOS and all the rest to make installation really easy, from the
> people I have talked to, linux still seems to have a perception problem. If
> people are not open minded either then that doesn't help.
>
> It would be very interesting to see if people's perception of Linux would
> change if one of the Linux vendors went on the offencive with an
> advertising campaign, or if computer mags started to educate the general
> public about linux.
>
> I think Google started advertising Firefox on their US web site. Would be
> really interesting to see what would happen if they also started pushing
> Linux too, and the campaign went world-wide. This strikes me as one company
> that could seriously undermine Microsoft if they choose to do so.
>
> <snip>
Intersting. The thoughts of Open Office promotion through US SERP's led me to
the same thoughts which you expressed above. A few days ago I even wrote the
following:
http://schestowitz.com/Weblog/archives/2006/05/03/google-promote-linux/
Google are often criticised for giving back too little to GNU/Linux. This is
their chance to catch up while serving their own interests, which among
other things, are to hinder adoption of Windows Vista with the MSN/Live
search bars. Firefox and Opera (even Konqueror!) point to Google.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | $> apt-get -not windows
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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