MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-06-17 |
| FROM | From: "Rene Ferrer"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [hangout] More idiocy
|
This is ok with me. I am a confirmed Microsoft hater. Yep. I'm a hater.
Ease of use and integration is slow in coming, but this guy seems to have
completely blocked or repressed "THE DOS YEARS" out of his concious mind
where all of what he is writing about has happened.
LET US NOT FORGET the reasons that DOS, CPM, TOS (Atari) and the Apple clans
arose: The complexity and expense of Unix...
RF
P.S. The difference this time, besides that OS/2 was complex and contrived
for purely selfish reasons, is that there is a truth to Open Source and the
various languages and loose structures that surround it. There is a truth to
being open and fair and all-inclusive.
This truth is what will set us free.
RF
>From: Dave Williams
>Reply-To: Dave Williams
>To: hangout-at-nylxs.com
>Subject: [hangout] More idiocy
>Date: 17 Jun 2003 16:13:22 -0400
>
>
>Yet another ridiculously incompetent article from this DiCarlo person at
>Forbes. Who is bankrolling this nonsense? Are there investments in the
>Forbes portfolio that profit from misinforming people about Linux?
>
>http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/17/cx_ld_0617linux.html?partner=yahoo&referrer=
>
>Why You Won't Be Getting A Linux PC
>Lisa DiCarlo, Forbes.com
>06.17.03, 12:00 PM ET
>
>NEW YORK - Judging from the holy war being waged by proponents of Linux
>PCs, it's clear that Linux is becoming the OS/2 of its time.
>
>OS/2, many will recall, is the now-defunct PC operating system
>originally developed by IBM and Microsoft in the 1980s. By 1990,
>Microsoft split the project to focus on Windows, and IBM continued to
>develop OS/2 alone. For the next five years, IBM fought a losing battle
>that consumed the company, and OS/2 proponents (a very vocal, technical
>crowd) were never short on conspiracy theories about Microsoft's covert
>efforts to wipe out the operating system.
>
>Now, the same appears to be happening with Linux PCs. Despite
>Microsoft's overwhelming market share--somewhere north of 90%--there's
>an effort underfoot to make a dent in Windows with Linux PCs. And with
>that effort comes a return of the conspiracy theories.
>
>Lindows.com, which makes a Linux operating system for PCs, claims that
>TigerDirect, a computer reseller and a division of Systemax, has been
>"bribed" by Microsoft to stop selling computers based on the OS. On its
>Web site, Lindows.com's chief executive, Michael Robertson, writes:
>"Microsoft has stepped up orders to [its] staffers to increase the
>financial incentives to impede LindowsOS sales at TigerDirect."
>
>TigerDirect Chief Executive Gilbert Fiorentino says there is "zero
>truth" to the story. "Michael has made a lot of inflammatory comments
>about Microsoft. We are here to serve our customers, not to advance
>anyone's agenda."
>
>TigerDirect continues to sell the Lindows PC as well as Windows systems.
>"There is no conspiracy here," says Fiorentino. "This is a political
>matter between Windows and Lindows."
>
>Robertson counters that what he wrote "is 100% accurate. Microsoft makes
>[billions] in profit from Windows and Office. [The company is] glad to
>spend a few million to postpone meaningful competition from desktop
>Linux."
>
>Since IBM dropped development of OS/2 in the mid-1990s, Microsoft has
>only gotten more entrenched in desktop computing. Windows and Office
>account for more than 60% of Microsoft sales, and the lion's share of
>profits. The market share for PCs running Linux is so insignificant that
>it is not tracked by International Data Corp.
>
>That's not to say that there will never be alternatives, but the
>alternatives must offer something more compelling than "we're not
>Microsoft."
>
>"We're not dismissing Linux PCs out of hand, but the integration
>[Microsoft] provides around the desktop is already there," says Bridget
>O'Connor, senior vice president of technology at Lehman Brothers. "The
>Office suite all works together. That's a whole set of engineering staff
>I don't have to have on Lehman's payroll."
>
>Because most PCs are not built from scratch to accommodate Linux, as
>they are for Windows, almost everything requires extra work. Windows
>certainly has its quirks, but there are millions of off-the-shelf,
>readily available hardware and software add-ons for Windows
>PCs--assuming they're not already built in. That's not true of Linux.
>
>Take printer drivers, for example. Drivers are low-level software needed
>to make an add-on device, such as a printer, PDA or digital camera, work
>with a PC. Hewlett-Packard, the largest printer company, has drivers
>available for many of its inkjet and LaserJet printers on its Web site,
>which must be downloaded and installed. HP does not include Linux
>drivers with the printer, but it does include Windows drivers.
>
>There is also a lack of mainstream applications for Linux PCs, and
>that's not going to change anytime soon. Sure, there are open-source
>software suites like StarOffice and OpenOffice, but beyond that it's
>slim pickings.
>
>It's clunky or impossible to run Linux versions of the most popular
>applications: Intuit's Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax finance
>software; Symantec's Norton AntiVirus; and Adobe Photoshop from Adobe
>Systems. There exists a community-supported Linux version of RealPlayer
>by Real Networks, but the company has nothing to do with the product;
>according to its Web site, Real Networks "does not guarantee
>functionality, maintenance, upgrades, fixes or sustainability for any
>purpose."
>
>Not exactly a ringing endorsement but it's understandable, given the
>cost pressure most software developers are under. They will write
>software for systems that have the greatest potential to yield high
>sales, and that's Windows.
>
>Linux PCs seemed to get a boost recently when retail giant Wal-Mart
>Stores began selling Linux systems from a company called Microtel. But
>the balloon was deflated when, in a review of the Lindows-based machine,
>Consumer Reports said the system was "OK for Web browsing, e-mail and
>letter writing, but not much more," and that attaching PDAs, digital
>cameras, etc., will be "difficult or impossible." The magazine therefore
>"recommend[s] that you spend another $200 or so for a low-priced Windows
>computer."
>
>Lindows.com's Robertson says hundreds of digital cameras are supported.
>
>Despite the desktop issues, Linux has made deep inroads in servers. In
>the first quarter of this year, revenue market share for Linux servers
>grew 35% over the year-earlier period, to $583 million.
>
>To be sure, computer users have been tempted to smash their Windows PCs
>to bits. After all, freeze-ups, shutdowns and fatal errors are still an
>all-too-frequent part of the everyday computing experience. And because
>Microsoft tends to take a kitchen-sink approach to software development,
>most users pay for features they will never use or don't even know
>exist. But, for most, it's better than the Linux alternative.
>
>Mainstream computer users (those uncomfortable opening, programming or
>reconfiguring a computer) would not be satisfied with Linux PCs. Large
>and medium-sized corporate customers are probably not a good fit either.
>"I leverage vendors where they are good," says Lehman's O'Connor. "It's
>too hard to deal with all the issues of putting [Linux PCs] together
>yourself. That is not our business."
>
>That leaves technically savvy individuals and Microsoft haters to make a
>market for Linux PCs.
>
>____________________________
>NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
>Fair Use -
>because it's either fair use or useless....
>NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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