Jon maddog Hall wrote: >I found it interesting because they seem to think that the war is between >Microsoft Windows and Linux, not between proprietary software and Free and Open >Source Software. They rely on issues such as Microsoft making money on >Microsoft Office while they can lower the price of Windows. But what happens >if OpenOffice eats away at those profits also? And MySQL or Postgres (or >even ORACLE and DB2) eat away at Microsoft SQL? > > Really good points... and now, with OS X to be coming to the Intel platform, there's a lot more that can happen.
>Secondly, they talk about Microsoft's dominance in the world, yet they ignore >the fact that there are only 850 million general purpose computers, and >6.3 Billion people, which means that 5.6 Billion people have not selected their >operating system yet. (Yes, I know that most of them will never own a computer >in their lifetime...but the dropping price of hardware makes this interesting). >Thus while Microsoft owns 90% of today's desktop market, they only own 8% of >the possible total. > > There is also the issue of people being *able* to choose their own operating system. Basically, if you don't buy an Apple, you don't build your own system, you end up with what the manufacturers give you. And that's Windows XP (Longhorn: Delayed again!), and that's because Microsoft has 'agreements' with manufacturers. That may well flip a bit as China begins exerting more pressure in the market by direct PC and PC part sales. The computer factory planned in Venezuala has certainly captured my imagination, especially since Hugo Chavez has legislated (for better or worse) turned Venezuala into a Software Libre zone. *Note*: I say for better or worse because I do believe that there should be choice...but at the government level, I cannot begin to understand the politics and ideologies associated with Venezuala, even after long discussions with Venezualan friends that are of 'pro Chavez' and 'anti Chavez' camps. >Finally, what happens if any of the major world economies (or emerging >economies) decides to protect their developing FOSS industry with heavy import >duties on Microsoft software? This could change the impact dramatically also. >Or if the WTO really comes down on piracy, and makes people in these countries >actually start paying for their Microsoft software? > > The cost of enforcement from the WTO is arguably higher than the profits..... At the FLOS Caribbean conference and afterwards, the challenge was sent to Microsoft to enforce their own licenses. It must not be a good business decision right now. ;-) >I have no doubt that Microsoft will not give up the fight easily, but to say >that FOSS will "never" win is like saying (in the 1700's) that heavier than >air craft will "never" fly. > > Still, I'd love to see their model. As I mentioned on my blog (http://www.knowprose.com/node/2197 ), it appears the model is purely economical, which is fine except economies are affected by other things as well. It would be interesting to see how the WIPO stuff, as well as the lawsuit in Europe, affect Microsoft's business model. Meanwhile, outside of the economical figures and outside of even the Linux business news (which a lot of the Linux media has become), Linux continues to grow unchecked. Counting Linux Servers is not a good metric for gauging the success of Linux; it's a very small aspect and is hardly without error. -- Taran Rampersad Presently in: Panama City, Panama [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.knowprose.com http://www.easylum.net http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/Taran "Criticize by creating." — Michelangelo _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
