On Jul 19, 1:56 am, "ness...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
<ness...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> <Quote>
> In case you haven't noticed, the economy is collapsing....
>
> With both people and companies having to squeeze a nickel's worth of
> good out of every penny, how long do you think people will be paying
> Microsoft for its imperfect operating systems and office suites? Vista
> Business SP1 'upgrade' has a list price of $199.95. Office 2007
> Professional is $329.95. That's $529.90, or as much as a new low-end
> PC. Or, I could go with Ubuntu Linux for zero money down. if I wanted
> big business support, I could buy SLED (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop)
> 10 SP 2 from Novell for $50. SLED, like any desktop Linux, includes
> OpenOffice 2.4 for free.
> </Quote>
>
> http://blogs.computerworld.com/linux_can_save_us
You're missing the bigger picture. Remember that one of the biggest
features of Linux/Unix in it's collaboration environment. Linux and
most of it's OSS application programs were were developed by teams
scattered all over the world. While SUSE was adding features and
fixes in Germany, there was also activity from folks in California
(Transmeta), Asia (TurboLinux, RedFlag), India, France(Mandrake),
Utah(Caldera), and North Carolina(Red Hat). The sun never set on the
Linux development team.
Linux has been a key element of most offshoring projects, but it has
also allowed teams in the USA to work together, from their homes, or
from local offices, rather than having to fly week after week to
places far away, gobbling up tons of Jet Fuel, then gallons of car
fuel, and then extra heating and air conditioning, in effect
maintaining 2 households.
Microsoft has continued repeatedly to conspire with the OEMs to keep
competitors out of the market, and has done so successfully. But just
yesterday Apple moved up to the #3 position. Previously the ranking
was HP, Dell, Acer, and Lenovo.
Do you really think that HP or Dell will sit back and watch Apple
clean up the market with OS/X (Unix) and stick with Vista
exclusively? Do you think Lenovo and Acer, both huge competitors,
will just sit back and hope that customers who have been resisting
Vista for years
Acer built itself up as a company who produced "Linux Ready"
computers. And it might be that they are ready to start putting Linux
PCs in those Gateway Showrooms they purchased as part of the Gateway
purchase.
If Linux makes it to the retail display shelves, it could have the
same fate as the ASUS EEE, with Linux machines dominating the market,
generating sales that wouldnt' have otherwise even occurred, and
leaving Microsoft begging for a seat at the table.
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