On Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:43:39 +0000, Mark Kent wrote:
> Interesting... the only interesting metric of foss usage is foss usage.
> As there is no market for linux itself, or at least, a very small one,
> it's not something you can quantify, since there's nothing to quantify,
> however, usage is the interesting thing.
This is the thing about FOSS. Sure, not everyone wants to use linux.
That's fine. But at least the FOSS writers are giving users a choice
about what applications to run even on Microsoft Windows. If they want to
run MS Office, they're welcome to. If they want to run OpenOffice.org or
Staroffice, that's great too! I personally prefer Linux/OOo. It works for
me very well.
I dare say, that the same cannot be said of Microsoft. They don't want
consumer choice. This is evident in their lock-in of Microsoft Office to
Microsoft Windows (with the notable exception of MacOS, but I don't know
if they are still developing a Mac version of Office as I don't pay much
attention to that arena) and their new pet project "Silverlight" which is
touted as cross-platform; but it's really microsoft-centric and cross-
platform means "multiple versions of Windows".
It's about choice, not about lock-in. Customers will take choice when
given it.
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