On Oct 21, 2010, at 03:29, Björn Göransson wrote:
> What really brought me to my knees was collaborating in my daily job with people using MS office (their xml format). If not, I'd be using linux still.
>
> If you have a shiny title from microsoft, you will get more clients. But to get this title, you need to get a certain number of certifications for your employees from MS-licensed educational companies. If you have that title, you'll get greatly reduced prices on MSDN subscriptions (download all ms products for a monthly fee). Given that this is a part of your business strategy (it is, for a lot of IT-conslutancy companies), you will have a lot of MS software to install on your machines, a lot of people knowing MS technology, and a lot of clients wanting MS-based solutions.
>
> The circle is complete!
Indeed - and this is very smart. In many ways, Microsoft has been the first Open Source business. They have always allowed "free" installations of their software, if you have an install disk at work you can take it and use it at home, thereby creating a viral customer base, which they monetize later by enforcing licenses. They have always tolerated a grey market, whereby you can buy cheaper student version without proving you are a student and Microsoft bets you'll upgrade.
This model works really well for the generic business tools that everyone thinks they need; Outlook, Excel, Word. And it will be really, really hard to kill this model because the software is relatively good. Where the model breaks is in innovation and quality. That's why people who _write_ software at least know about Linux, have used gcc perhaps, or at least know some of the tool set and languages. If you want quality tools, that are peer-reviewed, follow best practices, are actively maintained and help define standards and protocols, you're going to have to use Free Software.
So how do we get software users and not just software developers to use Free Software on the 'desktop'? Simply by writing really great software. A lot of computing is moving to the web (or cloud) and that code runs in browsers on any OS. Browsers themselves now are mostly Free in both senses of the word - and there are more non-Microsoft browsers on all Desktops than IE, IE has fallen under 50% market share even though it ships on 90% of all computers. That 40% that Microsoft has lost is the tip of the sword - it is the end of their monopoly, and that is a good thing for everyone.
Jeremiah
_______________________________________________
http://foss-sthlm.haxx.se/
http://cool.haxx.se/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foss-sthlm
Received on 2010-10-21