Linonut wrote:
> * amicus_curious peremptorily fired off this memo:
>
>> Once again, the day when regular people use Linux is said to be just around
>> the corner. But the world looks sort of circular and they never seem to
>> round that corner.
>
> I dunno. Gartner says the U.S. "gets it" only to the extent of 1.5%,
> but other parts of the world "get it" to the extent of 4%.
>
> Indicates to me that the 3rd world is well aware of the cost of doing
> business with Microsoft.
That makes some sense.
Several points perhaps worth thinking about:-
-Prices. Third-world countries get "special treatment", but even so,
proprietary S/W prices are *relatively* very high (c.f. average income).
In other parts of the developed world (outside the U.S.), prices are
*artificially* high (e.g. look at retail price in the E.U., and compare it
with U.S. retail)
- There is a sovereignty issue. Things like WGA have perhaps helped to alert
those outside the U.S. to the fact that a U.S. company can actually "switch
off" their software!
- There is an expertise issue. While everybody outside the U.S. buys
(imports) U.S. S/W, all major decisions will be taken in the U.S., and
most/all of expertise will reside there. FOSS solves the problem here - it
actually *uses* acknowledged U.S. expertise (American developers) while not
denying ones own the opportunity. The best of all worlds!
- Figures which we see frequently here (in this group) tend to be figures
obtained via web visits. The sites will tend to be biased towards the U.S.
The U.S. population probably *uses* the web more/capita than any other
nation, and the whole data-gathering exercise probably gives great weight to
what is happening in the U.S. If it's machines that you want answers for,
rather than visits to predominantly American sites, you probably need a
better way of measuring!
Finally, all this means that FOSS generally, Linux in particular, is perhaps
gaining more ground than we realise!
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