__/ [ Richard Rasker ] on Monday 25 September 2006 15:28 \__
> Ah, goodie! Another Microsoft sponsored Study! And boy oh boy, is it a
> beauty: "The Economic Impact of Microsoft Windows Vista".
>
> Vista may be the Hummer among OS'es: guzzling inordinate amounts of
> recources to offer nothing more substantial than a shiny new coat of
> paint, but that's not the point. It's Good for the Economy - at least if
> we may believe IDG:
>
> http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000097
>
http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/c/1/bc15f052-f970-405f-b691-5d0052410b42/203326Euro.pdf
>
> Ah yes, a *hundred thousand* new jobs, and *forty billion euros* worth of
> hardware, software and services changing hands - and all that in only six
> countries, in the first year of its introduction. Marvellous!
>
> But, as mr. Moody points out, what the report "forgets" to mention is that
> the money isn't income - quite contrary, it's expense. And a *lot* of this
> expense is leaving Europe - 20 billion in hardware required to be able to
> run this hog-with-lipstick, and 5 - 10 billion in software licenses. So in
> effect, up to 75% of this "benefit" is actually what it's costing Europe.
>
> And who, pray, is going to pick up the tab? Well, we are, of course. As
> the total population of the region is 300 million people, this Vista
> rubbish is going to cost every man, woman and child 100 euros, in the
> first year alone.
>
> But wait, there's more! What about these employment figures? Isn't 100,000
> brand new jobs worth the expense? Um, hold on a minute ... 100.000 new
> jobs? Does this mean that Vista requires even more hands-on care and
> maintenance than the current installed Windows base? I guess it does.
>
> Let's do some more math ...
>
> "More than 30 million computers in the region studied are expected to be
> running Windows Vista."
>
> They expect to sell one copy of Vista per ten inhabitants? That's rather
> optimistic, now isn't it? Ooh, and there's more good stuff in there: they
> expect to have 1 million Vista-related IT employees in 2007. So that's one
> fulltime paid worker for every thirty Vista computers ... Um, we in *nix
> land can easily do a hundred computers or more per worker ... another sign
> that Vista is the same utter maintenance-unfriendly crap as all the other
> versions of Windows.
>
> Ah well, let's hope Vista turns out to be just as successful as the Hummer
> ...
>
>
http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/2005/11/hummer-overfloweth.html
This had me thinking about the following:
IDC pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy
,----[ Quote ]
| A recent IDC white paper on the economic impact of Microsoft's super
| soaraway new Vista operating system seems to be lacking one crucial
| ingredient -- other operating systems.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
Definitely worth a read.
Initially realised in:
http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/expertarticles/wpn-62-20060920LinuxOptionsOmittedFromVistaSurvey.html
Let's hypothesise. So, if the world turned upside-down (yes, computing along
with the WWW had been flipped onto their backs thanks to Windows), everyone
would use Linux.
Implications:
* Technical people program and innovate rather than maintain (e.g.
filesystem, viruses, backups...)
* SPAM is virtually non-existent. Where it exists, it is immediately traced
back to its source (support is no longer overwhelmed by 100,000-PC botnets).
Unless people enable SSH access, disable the firewall and choose a password
like "goodmorning", all should be fine.
* DDOS attacks are no longer taken into consideration. This translates to
fewer server and lower costs for an Internet connection and hosting plans.
* The security industry shrinks significantly and its skills get replaced
with innovative projects. This also includes tailoring the software (e.g.
Linux) to optimally suit the local authority and the region, which also
keeps the money in the nation. This leads to greater worker satisfaction and
better productivity.
* European citizens get a PC for under 200 Euros (published today:
http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/78629 ), which means that less
wealthy families can get connected. This leads to parity as opposed to
social gaps.
* There are more, but this message is becoming long..
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Computers are useless. They only solve problems"
http://Schestowitz.com | Open Prospects ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Tasks: 134 total, 1 running, 130 sleeping, 0 stopped, 3 zombie
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