The Second Coming of Apple

[Mr. Nice Guy]

Originally posted by Dissident
How can microsoft make a profit on something that is free?

They can't, but a monopoly in a free product/service can be used to promote another paid product/service into monopoly status (or to help keep a paid product/service at monopoly status).

[Agathon]

And dethroning goolge has exactly what to do with MS's core business? Do you honestly believe anyone is going to break MS's OS monopoly or the MS Office monopoly in the near future?

Yep. The future of computing will probably not be like it is now. Much more web based. That puts companies like Google in the hot seat.

[Urban Ranger]

Aggie,

Be nice.

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Office isn't a monopoly. There are plenty of other systems that work on Windows, and can read Word files.

Guess what? That's one of the complaints against MS, that their applications group have access to the operating systems group, thus giving them an advantage. Thus one of the things the DoJ sought was to level the playing field, i.e. a "bamboo wall" between the OS group and the applications group. In fact, Judge Penfield ordered MS to be broken up that way in the original verdict.

[Agathon]

Aggie,

Be nice.

I wasn't aware I was being horrible.

[Dinner]

OK, aggie. If anyone breaks MS's monopoly in the next 5 years I will buy you a shiny new Apolyton mouse pad. What will you give me when google doesn't amount to ****e other then yet another portal. True, they're a big portal but they have nothing to do with OSes nor will they ever be.

Linux just won't pick up much market share outside of the "experts" in computers it already appeals to and MOC is going to continue to lose market share. So who's going to come up with the monopoly breaking OS?

[Tassadar500]

Five years is a long time, so be careful what you bet Oerdin.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Asher
Further, they've been patching vulnerabilities as they're discovered.

You know that's futile, because Windows has fundamental design flaws. Some of the security vulnerabilities are never going to be fixed, even Microsoft openly acknowledges that. Until they completely redesign the OS from the ground up.

[Agathon]

OK, aggie. If anyone breaks MS's monopoly in the next 5 years I will buy you a shiny new Apolyton mouse pad.

Big spender, aren't you?

Linux will pick up market share in businesses first. It's cheaper for a start. You would think that medium sized businesses would avoid Linux like the plague. You'd be wrong; it's now being considered, and will only get better and become a more attractive option. The EU has shown that it is prepared to stand up to Microsoft, and whether Americans like it or not, the EU will get its way. Add to that emerging markets, where people can't afford the outrageous price of proprietary software and it looks pretty good. Microsoft can't keep on giving stuff away for free.

Home users, gamers, etc. will be the last to switch, if they ever do. I thought that was extremely unlikely until I saw how good desktop Linux has become in the last couple of years.

I think you're wrong about Google. They've jumped into email, blogging, digital photography desktop search and now online libraries. It looks to me as though they are well positioned for the time when most applications become web apps.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Linux just won't pick up much market share outside of the "experts" in computers it already appeals to and MOC is going to continue to lose market share.

That's not true. Many countries, including France, Germany, the UK, the PRC, Japan, and RoK, are switching or have switched to Linux. Some on a nationwide level, some city by city. They reasoned - correctly from my PoV, that they are not going to trust proprietary software, especially when it comes to something as fundamental as an operating system, because they have no idea what's going on behind their backs.

Also, some research firm (IDC IIRC) reckons that Linux will be running 7% of the desktop computers worldwide (less in the US, ~4%). It's not a big number, sure, but it's a giant leap from a rounding error.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Agathon
Home users, gamers, etc. will be the last to switch, if they ever do. I thought that was extremely unlikely until I saw how good desktop Linux has become in the last couple of years.

ATI and nVidia are coming out with Linux drivers for their graphics cards. That should make it much easier to port games.

[Agathon]

Free software is just that. The point that appeals to large businesses and governments is not so much the cost as the freedom to fix it or modify it to suit themselves, and to hire whomsoever they want to do that.

It's about control.

[Agathon]

ATI and nVidia are coming out with Linux drivers for their graphics cards. That should make it much easier to port games.

I didn't know that. I still think that business will jump first.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Agathon

ATI and nVidia are coming out with Linux drivers for their graphics cards. That should make it much easier to port games.

I didn't know that. I still think that business will jump first.

Here's the Anandtech article.

[Agathon]

Cheers. I always enjoy reading him. His article on OS X was really interesting.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Guess what? That's one of the complaints against MS, that their applications group have access to the operating systems group, thus giving them an advantage. Thus one of the things the DoJ sought was to level the playing field, i.e. a "bamboo wall" between the OS group and the applications group. In fact, Judge Penfield ordered MS to be broken up that way in the original verdict.

Guess what? That had zero to do with what I said.