MESSAGE
| DATE | 2009-03-22 |
| FROM | Ron Guerin
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] GNU Laptops reach 10% or market
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Ruben Safir wrote:
> March 19th, 2009
> Open source share growing in netbook market
>
> Posted by Dana Blankenhorn -at- 8:22 am
> After a year spent putting atrocious Linux distros on their $400 hardware,
But that *is*, whether we like it or not, the real news here, not the
10% we held onto. The real news here is a lot of people got a lousy
Linux experience and won't choose it the next time, and it probably
won't even be offered that choice anyway since the hardware guys are
rushing into Microsoft's ever-loving arms.
> Thus the key is not the operating system, but the office suite. I am not
> loading a $200 software package on $400 worth of hardware. Even if
> Microsoft Office is still on the desktop, I’m going with OpenOffice.org
> on the netbook. And I’m going to make sure we support that format back
> at the office.
> Thus the open source glass with netbooks is at least half-full. And when
> we start pouring again, I think, Linux is going to get an even bigger
> share.
1) If wins for OOo have coattails for Linux or Free Software, I'd like
to see them. I presume you're with me on this one Ruben, since you
made it very clear how you feel about cross-platform Free Software.
2) Unless the machines ship with Linux on them, at best this is just
as bad as things are now with all other hardware, just no worse.
There's two possible outcomes in the matter of the office suite:
1) Microsoft gives away Office as well
2) OOo or something else picks up the users
My guess is Microsoft would go with #1 if they thought they could do it
without winding back in anti-trust court. So maybe they do come up with
some clever way not to charge for it, or maybe #2 happens. This is
software almost nobody *wants* to use, nobody gets passionate about.
It's one of the reasons "our" office suite is descended from a
commercial product and not from the community. At worst this is a
threat to Microsoft's ability to generate revenue from Office, but it's
not going to help Linux much.
In any case, I think what you're more likely to see is some way for
Microsoft to give Office away on netbooks. A netbook is not a
replacement for a computer that would need an Office license, but an OOo
on a netbook could theoretically threaten a license on a desktop or
notebook, and that's just the sort of thing Microsoft does not like one
bit. Perhaps "Microsoft Office Online" or whatever they call it will be
free for netbooks or maybe a $20/yr subscription or something people
will swallow like they shell out for GoToMyPC.
- Ron
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