Microsoft tipping

[Collins]

On Sunday 28 December 2003 12:59, Joel Hammer wrote:
> Well, the article was a bit short on facts.
>

Not really.  The article provided lots of facts about Microsoft practices, 
profit margins of various lines, licensing and discount histories, etc.

> Predicting the future is a risky business. How many billions has this
> tech writer made through his insights into the computer business?
>

Probably none.  He's merely getting in with his predictions now.  Only time 
will tell.  Is the tide turning, or has it already turned?  At what point in 
the development of the modern CD, for example, would you have predicted that 
the vinyl record industry was doomed?  Only journalists with a lot of 
foresight would have pulled that off when CDs were selling for $25-$50 a pop.

> For example, a booming economy might make businesses less tight fisted
> with their IS dollars. That could change the business situation of MS
> quite favorably.
>

I sincerely doubt that European and Third World businesses are going to become 
any less tight fisted.

> I guess we all judge things by our local environment. Here, in our large
> hospital system, biggest employer in Maryland they tell me,  we not only
> use only MS software for the desktop but we use only compaq computers.
> If you buy a Dell our IS department tries to kill you. Opensource is
> not going to take this place by storm anytime soon.
>
> So, maybe some are looking at linux. We are not.
>

And you're not alone.  Hospital systems in this area are still Microsoft or 
Solaris.  Companies like these are still in the majority, but the number of 
defectors is growing day by day.  Interestingly enough, I read somewhere 
recently (a month or so back) that the published cases of linux conversions 
don't tell the entire story.  Apparently a lot of companies convert on the 
sly, regarding the cheaper linux implementation as a jealously guarded 
competitive advantage!

> And, I wonder how long those teams of volunteers are going to keep working
> to improve software when business people are making serious bucks off
> their efforts and they are getting nada. If linux goes commercial big
> time, that might put serious stresses on the linux community.
>

Fair question, but a lot of these volunteers believe in the cause of open 
software, and they're not going to bail out just for economic reasons.

> And, as anybody who uses both opensource and commercial software can tell
> you, ease of use is much better on commercial software. For example,
> Adobe printshop is just much easier to use than the Gimp. I have never
> had to read a manual for Adobe, but I have studied books on gimp, and
> I can do more in adobe than the gimp, and faster.
>

Still quite true, but products like OpenOffice are improving daily.  Once the 
user count comes up a little more, even companies like Adobe may choose to 
market linux products.

-- 
Collins


-- 
Collins