Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> ____/ chrisv on Friday 28 September 2007 18:40 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>>____/ chrisv on Friday 28 September 2007 14:54 : \____
>>>
>>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>But if it's not exactly like Windows, then it's behind right? Some
>>>>>reviewers will give high score to those who mimic mistakes, e.g. Xandros,
>>>>>Linspire...
>>>>
>>>> One of my best friends has been using Linspire for years, now. Works
>>>> for him...
>>>
>>>It does. But Apple OS X also works as a BSD. But it's not open source. It's
>>>aggressive lock-in and restriction of choice. We're back were we started --
>>>another Windows.
>>
>> He's not locked in. He could switch tomorrow to another distro, if he
>> wanted to.
>
> Okay, you do have a point here, so while my comparison to OS X stands,
> the "lock-in" part of an analogy does not translate well. However, do bear in
> mind that Linspire put shackles on Linux _as a whole_, so in that sense, it
> punishes the (Linspire) Linux user no matter where s/he goes.
>
Ah, so few people really understand how lock-in works. Let's try again:
Lock-in is an economic exit barrier. If you've paid several £1000s for
software on Microsoft and want to move to OSX, then there's a very good
chance you'll have to spend the same money again. Thus you have an exit
barrier of several thousands.
Sometimes, the exit-barrier can be through secret formats and protocols,
though. If all you data is saved in an Apple secret format, then the
exit barrier is equivalent to doing all your work again, or paying in
some way for a tool to try to unpick the problem.
In both cases, you are *locked-in*.
Moreover, this is the point which nobody seems to grasp, which is that
*everything* has a degree of lock-in; the reason to use open-source is
to minimise the exit barrier, it can never be zero. Economists know the
"opportunity cost" argument all too well.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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