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de Icaza: Rest of World Will Force US Into Linux
Eugenia writes "OSNews had an interesting discussion with Miguel de Icaza about all things Linux and Novell. Miguel talked about the general patent problem and how this will become the one single stumbling block of widespread adoption of Linux in USA, while he asserts that Longhorn uses some 'new' technologies already found on Gnome and elsewhere. Miguel believes that poor countries will be the first that will adopt widely Linux, and as long the EU won't adopt a similar system to US for patents, Europe will follow soon after, leaving no option to USA but to eventually adopt Linux as well in the long run (despite potential patent problems). Another strategy Miguel discussed was about moving as many F/OSS applications as possible to Windows in order to familiarize the casual users with open source. Among many other interesting tidbits he also mentions that Quark is now using Mono on Mac OS X." Of course, the EU not adopting software patents seems to be less and less likely.
Well, that's a nice idea and all, and the initial logic seems to follow, but... will the US actually follow suit? The US isn't exactly known for following the rest of the world. Think of the metric system, for one...
Umm, yeah... because that worked so well with the metric system.
to move F/OSS to Windows. It helps the migration to Linux a lot better.
Linux needs to improve to become a better desktop OS.
Many organizations do not use Linux and F/OSS becuase they have not been certified for use with their profession, like accounting etc. So there needs to be certification of Linux and F/OSS products. If the organization doing the certification is in the pocket of MS, fat chance of that happening.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
Note: The European elections are due in a month or so, so contact your MEPs to ask why they exist if the parliament can be bypassed like this.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
Is the 3rd world. While these countries are poor now, their economies will be openning up. If they have adopted a standard of open source, they will have no reason to change. Certainly not at Microsoft's prices. The point will come where, if the US wants to do business, we will be forced to adopt their standards. Good thing we already have Linux here.
...largely uses either legitimate copies of Windows (most of Western Europe and Japan) or pirated copies of Windows (poorer regions like most of Africa, South America, Asia).
I really don't see this changing.
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
I'm genuinely looking forward to the release of the Ximian Evolution Windows port as it'll finally give a decent free mail client, which I can distribute to the several dozen friends' PCs I unofficially support.
I've been trying to get them off Outlook/OExpress for ages (for safety purposes) but most refused to go to Thunderbird as it was "too different"
They can hardly say that about Evolution.
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
> So since he has already made his fortune, why should he care if there are strong IP laws to insure that others get paid for their work?
> Actually, the same criticism applies to all these big name open-source advocates.
Right, RMS is in it for the $$$:-)
Of course someone deeply involved in the Open Source software movement is going to say that Linux will become the dominant system. It's in his best interest to say that.
Bill Gates, Steve Balmer, Craig Mundie, etc. all feel that Windows and Microsoft software will be the dominant platform. Steve Jobs thinks that Apple and OS X will be the dominant platform. Is this really news?
The more interesting question is if de Icaza *really* believes that Gnome and Mono are going to be the dominant desktop. I know as the founder of the project, again it is in his interest to say yes. I just wonder if he's tried to use a KDE 3.2.x system and what his impressions are of it?
Overrated / Underrated : Moderation
It always bugged me that Evolution was not available for Windows. I'd be more than happy to ditch Outlook, but a good alternative does not exist. The Mozilla family is not a good alternative.
I hope that this means we'll see Evolution and others ported to Windows in the near future.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Wrong. As has been pointed out oh-so-many times, not even Microsoft can open their own documents in different versions of Word in the same way. So close enough is good enough for most users.
Yes, but unlike the Metric system, Linux offers actual benefits.
Linux benefits: Free, open, stable, secure, easily modifiable. Saves billions of dollars and reduces dependence on single vendor.
Metric benefits: Measures everything relative to a single lump of iridium kept in Paris and on the incorrect original French calculation of the size of the earth. Good if you really like the number 10... except for time... and angles.
See, the metric system's benefits, while of course they are great, aren't really as compelling, commercially.
(Let the metric system advocacy commence!)
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
What does "US" mean in this case? It's not like there aren't already American people and companies using Linux. Does he mean the US government?
I mean, when is the last time you heard of a successful business person taking advice from a skid row bum?
And, yes, I know it sounds harsh, elitist, and rude, but it is the truth and we all know it.
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Two countries that simply refuse to be bullied by anybody. Watch out for Linux development heading eastwards - patents or no patents. China, as we have seen went out of their way to develop an alternative DVD standard just to get around patent crap. And they almost went their own way on WiFi too. I wonder what the terms of settlement between Intel and China amounts too. Japan too, for their consumer electronics industry adopting Linux in a big way. NTT DoCoMo's reference platform for the next generation phones is based on Linux.
Is for the big important games to start coming out for Linux instead of Windows.
Of course, while the U.S. sucks for console games, it rules the PC game market. So I don't know how likely it is for games to be a way for the world to force the U.S. into OS compliance...
Also if De Icaza gets his way this won't happen.. since Icaza's glorified-Wine mono project is more likely to lead to crossplatform games than linux-only ones...
-- Super Ugly Ultraman
No it didn't work, but the rest of the world cares not for the backwards, stone-age measurement systems used by the US. Instead of persisting, we just point and laugh when the US talks of feet and inches.
The US won't be the world's super power forever, once they're second or third for a half century, I'm sure they'll make efforts to fall into line.
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
From the article:
Poor countries don't have the money to buy and maintain Windows; this is where open source software is becoming a real and powerful alternative," he said.
OK, but if they are too poor to maintain Windows, doesn't that also mean that they are that much more open to pressures and special "deals" (to ensure lock-in) from Microsoft?
----
"Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so."-Lawrence Lessig
This is an (un)official Slashdot repetition marker. Any further posts on the Lame Ass Metric System Analogy (LAMSA) are now Redundant, and their posters may be spanked with a metric ruler.
Posts utilizing the LAMSA _above_ this marker may also be moderated Redundant, but you may not beat the poster for more than forty five minutes at one sitting. Thank you. Have a nice day.
There is at least a bit of a fundimental difference.
:) ).
Joe Six-Pack in the U.S. doesn't usually need to use the metric system in his life, so he has no incentive to change over to it. He DOES however use the internet regularly, and his company may do deal with some overseas companies. If Linux is adopted overseas, all it means it that interoperability will probably have to be maintained between Linux and Windows. Once that happens though, managers in the US may start to see the cost savings, and switch.
On the other hand, as long as the interoperability is maintained, there is no incentive to switch.
For instance, if the U.S. was REALLY serious about moving to the metric system, they should offer incentives to Juice/Bottle makers too only put out things in metric containers (instead of a Half gallon of milk/Juice, go get a 2 liter contianer). They should also mandate that all gas pumps should be switched to the Liter instead of the Gallon. Those two things alone would bring the Metric system into the average persons, life in such a dramatic way that it might foster adoption (one they get past the resentment that things have changed
This space for rent. All reasonable inquiries will be entertained at proprietors discretion.
I think its good to see a leading F/OSS developer saying there needs to be F/OSS software made available on Windows. I am a developer that releases software under the GPL and try to make all of my software cross-platform. I believe that F/OSS developers needs to get out of the Linux bubble and realize that there are other platforms which are hungry for the software. I think that cross-platform is the next logical step for developers. I want to be able to use the same software at work (SolarisOS), home (WindowsXP), and develop environment (Linux).
A little learning never hurt anyone.
I've been following Linux for several years, but it's only this year I been able to stay exclusively on linux for a week or so while doing uni work. It's like everything has clicked for me, and I'm finding that I'm prefering to work under linux for coding. Maybe it's because i've been fiddling around long enough that I've grown to love the OS and desktop managers like KDE, or maybe it's because projects in the open source community have risen to such high levels of quality.
Thats not to say though that I haven't had my share of problems- cant get tv out working nicely, or 5.1 sound, or my OpenGL working right...
But for sitting down and doing research, coding and web activites, I'm finding Linux (i'm using Mandrake 9.2 btw) is more productive for me than Windows.
And when it comes to business, productivity is a significant drawcard. Due to my new found fondness of linux and OSS this week, im thinking that OSS will win users over due to it's increasing quality moreso than patent issues.
Live in your skin. Keep changing the scenery.
First, I will admit that I didn't RTFA yet, so let's get that out of the way. Mod me down if you don't like it.
That said, I would say that the US is unlikely to adapt a standard just because the rest of the world has. Witness:
www.wavefront-av.com
What are you talking about? The United States Congress officially adopted the metric system in 1866. :-)
They just didn't force people to stop using the units and measures with which they were familiar.
Coming from a science/engineering background, I *hate* working in traditional/avoirdupois/empire units.
On the other hand, it feels unnatural to talk about the weather in anything but degrees Fahrenheit. I've tried. I have plenty of European relatives. But centigrade's units feel too "big" and awkward.
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
And at the same time, avoid pissing off the rest of the metric world by spelling litre properly. I know "liter" is an accepted way of spelling litre, but it just looks wrong IMHO.
Looks can be deceiving. Or CAN they?
One interesting question this raises is which MS would prefer the poor countries to do: Pirate MS Products or use Linux. My guess is MS would prefer them to use pirated Windows than Linux because MS at least then has the vendor lockin. MS change of heart concerning WinXP SP2 installation on pirated machines would certainly argue for this.
The EU is becoming more and more unified every year, and the economy of Europe is quickly becoming simmilar to the economy of the US, where you can compare a European country to a US state.
United States:
Total GDP (2002) - 10.4 Trillion $
GDP/head - $37,600
Ranked 1st (countries)
European Union:
Total GDP (2002) - 9.61 Trillion
GDP/head - 21,125
Ranked 1st if counted as a single country
Europe is coming up fast... not to mention China and India. The days of the US as the economic superpoer of the wolrd are numbered by just abount any metric you use.
Metric vs. SAE
... and a lot of other things
But then this weekend something happened that changed my mind on the future of Linux. I downloaded Knoppix 3.4 and stuck the CD in a friend's WinXP box with a failing HD. WinXP wouldn't boot. Knoppix "just worked". It auto-configured all the hardware (a Dell 4550 series P4) and allowed me to back up most of this person's data to a CDR.240V 50Hx vs. 120V 60Hz
Drive on left vs. drive on right side of the road
EBCDIC vs. ASCII (IBM vs. everyone else)
This is the kind of thing that will make people take notice of Linux. They want a car that they can turn the key and drive away. People don't want a car that needs to have the engine tuned before they can drive it off the lot. Or one that they actually have to read the owner's manual.
They want an computer that auto-configures and is intuitively obvious to use. Knoppix 3.4 is a step in that direction.You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
"Math in a song is good."-Linford
In the US it is all too possible for something to be well established prior art, but an inventor claims to have made the invention prior to the first date of open publication. Having been involved with both US and European patents until about 1995, I considered the US system to be deeply screwed - the opportunity for fraud is immense. (though yes, that didn't stop me from filing US patent applications...)The EU system should not be so bad.
If this still applies, the important thing is for all ideas and concepts being brought to the OSS table to be published as soon as possible after they arise, thus creating prior art even if it is only in a very buggy bit of code.
Of course, if the US gets the entire IP world to rely on "date of invention", we're all screwed, and I'm going to buy a farm and retire.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
The "European Union" is not yet "Europe": about half of the European countries, and more than half of European territory are not even part of the EU.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
And does anyone actually want a monopoly operating system? I know I don't.
There are two or three agendas in the FOSS movements which can be summarized thusly:
- "Why? What are we going to do tomorrow Brain?" "Same thing we do every night Pinky... try to take over the world!" Microsoft, goes the argument, is eeeeeeevil. We must topple it at all costs. While it may or may not be true, there's an element of 1918 here, toppling a cruel and dictatorial czar and not caring what the regime is that replaces it.
- "Freedom!" - Proprietary software is eeeevil, we must topple it at all costs, toppling dictators whereever we might find them even at immense cost to ourselves.
- "Choice" - The problem isn't Microsoft, it's Windows. If Windows was what we wanted, we wouldn't be so hostile to it.
My problem is I see too many people who see GNU/Linux as a chance to create an alternative Windows. And I don't see how anyone really benefits from that. We replace one monopoly with another, that monopoly might be less "evil", but we don't even know that. What we do know is that an inappropriate clone of someone else's work isn't likely to be as good as the original. And many, many, of us do not like the original.Above all, the regime being proposed is frequently the worst of all worlds. People who hold this view tend to argue that Windows needs to be replaced with a version of GNU/Linux that looks like Windows. But a version of GNU/Linux designed to be as similar to Windows as possible to an end user is going to be dysfunctional by definition. GNU/Linux isn't Windows, it shares few of the same concepts, the solutions Microsoft came up with for interfacing the underlying OS with the user are unlikely to be relevent to GNU/Linux and rarely are in practice. And Windows is simply not a good example of a user friendly operating system, unless you're talking about the original version of Windows 95, which at the time was "pure", it hadn't been hacked to try to push certain competing middleware out of the market. And do you really want to switch to Windows 95 today? GEM and Mac OS System 6 were user friendly too, would you like to clone either?
There's some legitimacy to this view, but again it has a tendency to be undermined by its own supporters who frequently assert that, as a starting point, you need to clone whatever's already there. Again, the Pinky and the Brain scenario springs to mind here, with the more vocal supporters being in favour of a dysfunctional system "because it's what users know." In fairness, most also argue that free software, by its very nature, improves choice because if you don't like the way something works, you can modify it. However, it's not "free software" that's taken hold so much as "open source", where programmers across the world collaborate. This is both a strength and an Achile's Heel, because just as Microsoft and other proprietary vendors cannot keep up with such a freight train, neither can most ordinary users who'd like their software to work with a better paradigm.
This is the only one of the three scenarios that has immediate and obvious benefits to end users. A view based on choice works best when people create Free Software, when programmers try to do original things, and when people try new things.
Personally, I love free software. Given the choice, however, between One (Supported) Free Operating System (the "Supported" is important), an Operating System whose design choices have made me dislike it intensely, and a miriad of supported proprietary systems, at least one of which works in the way I prefer, I have to go with the Devil and chose the latter. It's not Microsoft I dislike, it's their operating system and the dull grey rock of monoculture. Changing who owns that rock doesn't make things much better.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
More to the point, IP laws in the US are generally becoming more restrictive, as corporate interests codify their wish-list into our legal system.
This will backfire, as it forces innovation out of the US.
Honestly, I expect Europe to follow the US lead. The same corporations that are doing this to the US are also well entrenched in Europe. So in effect, we're pushing innovation to India and China, the new growing world economies.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
The US economy is very dependant on foreign trade. Over time many other countries are becoming richer and influential. For example, today China's choice to use Linux doesn't matter much to the US. But if it's the next big market as many people believe then what standards they use will most certainly matter to the US. As trade with China grows and companies become more entagled overseas their choices will influence US companies.
Developers: We can use your help.
Just to make a point:
Pronounce the following:
er
re
Explain to me how you can pronounce "re" as "reee" and "metre" as "meee-tur".
I suppose if the spelling were
metr
then it might make a degree of sense.
www.eFax.com are spammers
Boy is there some confusion here about the adoption of Linux in Europe! If anything, the US is still the above-and-beyond leader in terms of small- and large-scale Linux implementation. A few well-publicized adoptions by town councils overseas changes that in no way. Hey, I live in Europe!
I get the impression de Icaza really does believe Gnome and Mono can become dominant on the desktop. He seems to have a decent grasp of the political and economic situation surrounding the debate. Plus he gives credit to Microsoft when appropriate (and sometimes when inappropriate in my opinion), so he's not overly zealous. You're correct in that he does have a vested interest. But I think he's a true believer.
Developers: We can use your help.
Lumber - 5x10's instead of 2x4's (a 2x4 is not even 2 inches by 4 inches) and metric lengths.
Carpeting/flooring etc - sell by sq meter instead of sq yrd.
All scales sold must use metric as Primary unit (they could also give the archaic english units)
There is a lot more use of the metric system in the US society than you might think at first glance. Those people working in anything to do with chemistry are likely using the metric system in their work.
I don't think the US will ever adopt the kilometre in place of the mile, however, because in a lot of the US, the land is plotted into 1 mile square sections and this provides a more usable unit with which to measure distances. Using km would just be more confusion.
Does anyone know if there is a metric unit that would correspond to the english bushel? (a unit of volume)
I think a lot of people may be missing a few key points. I'm sure these will draw some criticism, but here goes:
First, F/OSS is only as good as it's user input. If you use such software and gripe about it's this-or-that, but never submit even these quirks to the dev team, DON'T expect the issues to get resolved any time soon. The dev team, unlike major corporations, doesn't have the ability or capital to test and develop on a wide scale.
Second, on a lower level, I doubt Microsoft would be up for offering deals to poorer economies, lock-in or not. If they offer WinXP Pro to Uraguay for $50 a license, the American businesses that got the "Special Business License" for $75 would start whining. That's just something they don't need to deal with. In such case, I think MS will continue to treat the market as a whole in the manner they always have.
Third, in relation to the productivity of an application or OS, I would haard a guess that one is more productive when one goes into something (e.g. a new OS, a new F/OSS app) expecting to BE more productive. I tried the Firefox browser a few months ago, and hated it. Coincidentally, I expected to hate it because it wasn't IE. A month or two later, I tried it again, with a more open mind, and lo and behold, it's my current favorite browser. Same idea for C++/C# IDEs - from VC++ 6 to some no-name F/OSS IDE with ero problems. It's all relative.
So as far as a mass migration to Linux, it's anyone's guess - but I think it's a bit too early to be calling it Linux's game. Too many branches, and a whole new system to learn, seem to be a bit daunting for the average user. Wait ten years until Linux certification really gets a firm footing in the industry, and until the weaker Linux flavors drop off or conglomerate, and we may have some good competition.
[SQL Error ID 10-T: This sig. is above your current threshold.]
The problem is that F/OSS has to be better that Microsoft when it comes to things like file format conversion, not just as good. Like it or not, people have a double standard: if they try to open a Word document in Open Office and it doesn't work, they'll say that OO (and by extension, F/OSS in general) is no good; but if one version of Word refuses to open correctly a document created in another version, they'll shrug and say, "That's the way it is with computers, what can you do?" Microsoft is like the weather to a lot of people -- they bitch about it, but they don't seriously think they can do anything about it, and they think of it as an unavoidable part of their environment.
The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
The apps are the gateway though. Why do most folks believe they can't move away from Windows? The apps they use daily don't exist anywhere else or substitutes exist but don't provide the level of compatibility or the look and feel (and possibly the workflow) they are used to.
But someone who uses Firefox, Thunderbird/fox/whatever, OO.o, Gimp, etc on Windows will have a MUCH lower barrier to switching away from Windows when the time comes. Suddenly that Windows upgrade may just turn into a Linux install with all their daily apps pre-configured.
On the 1st May the EU surpassed America.
There will be a couple of years of turbulence as the economies are integrated but unless the US swallows Canada and Mexico it's going to be playing second fiddle in the mid future.
Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
The US is already a major user of Linux. Pick any major distribution, what language is it in? What country does it originate from?
I think there is just a few faulty assumptions here, as well as some mis-applied logic. For example, "MS is evil" is a subjective opinion, and not really fact. If it wasn't for MS and windows, I don't think computers would be quite as widespread as they are now. "The US will follow the rest of the world", while at times they should be doing what the rest of the world is doing, the US will do what it wants, for better or worse (proof: metric system, Iraq)
On one hand competition is good and it may happen that it helps further adoption of free software, improvements in both Evolution and Glow and all that. And we hope both remain standards-based and interoperable.
But at this point, we aren't strong enough to compete much, we already have too much duplication of efforts like in the whole KDE vs Gnome mess, and the BSDs vs GNU/Linux vs Hurd one.
Worse yet, he is happy that Sun users get less goodies! This is simply Not Good. Whatever Sun motives may be, this is not a good thing in itself. It would be much better to work with Sun to address its concerns, but then de Icaza already proved he would rather follow his own path, like he already dissociated himself from copyleft and the FSF because he didn't like the focus on ideas over pragmatism.
And perhaps that's nice about Sun doing their own stuff: it's copylefted and they have copyright assignment. Not only Glow may prove a safer choice (legally speaking) than Evolution both to users and developers (if Sun ever frees Java, or makes it run good on free JVM implementations), but Sun is getting used to free software and copyleft. Free Solaris and Java anyone?
Leandro Guimarães Faria Corcete DUTRA
DA, DBA, SysAdmin, Data Modeller
GNU Project, Debian GNU/Lin
Moderators disagree? :) Ok I'll back it up my reasoning (and try to speak slower):
.NET," he said. "At this point, we have millions of developers building .NET connected applications." "
.Net apps or MS/Windows Logo certified?
"Another strategy Miguel discussed was about moving as many F/OSS applications as possible to Windows in order to familiarize the casual users with open source."
It is not easy to move Linux/Unix stuff to Windows. It is expensive - costs the developers time and effort, and there are other costs supporting a rather different architecture- look at the various apache-win bugs. And what does that gain Linux and the rest? More Windows software. Wow, great move that.
What next? Get people to write more native windows software, instead of just porting Linux apps to windows? Oh yah he's trying that too:
"Another Microsoft spokesperson told internetnews.com that, "Mono is just one example of the level of excitement within the developer community around
Insert image of MS spokesperson "rubbing hands with glee" - More Windows software.
If more Linux developers write Mono software for Linux and Mono software runs on Windows with no modifications, AND MS office and other Windows-only software doesn't run on Linux.
THEN the software available for Windows increases more than software available for Linux. Go figure.
Do I need to talk slower and more loudly? Doh.
And what if there's an "embrace and extend" war? With some slight incompatibilities? Who wins? Mono-certified
And now this joker talks about the World Forcing the US into Linux if the EU doesn't do the US thing.
Doh. What next the World Forcing the US into signing the CO2 treaty? Sorry I must have lost track of which universe I was in. This must be the universe where the World forced the US into Iraq eh? And where Miguel ends up being the whole reason for the universe entire existence.
We're a bit worse off in the Great White North, because of exactly this. While we're technically supposed to be metric, because of heavy trade with the US we have to do both. FYI I live near Toronto.
When you're buying a house, the property size is measured in metres. However, the interior measurements are all given in square feet.
I know my height in feet and inches, but my driver's license lists it in centimetres. Funny, because I measure my skis in centimetres.
I buy meat in the store by the gram or kilogram, but my microwave asks me how many pounds is it when I want to defrost it. Of course I know my weight in pounds.
Construction materials are measured in feet, while I drive in km/h. I pump litres of gas into my tank, while I purchase hard booze in ounces. But beer, water and soft drinks are sold in millilitres.
I read the outside temperature in celsius, and I set my thermostat in C, yet my oven is set in farenheit. At least, all the recipes I have do (some ovens have both C and F listed).
We're pretty damned confused up here.
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
... widespread diversity. Linux could become dominant, easily, but it won't be one single distro or way of doing things. It's rather a unique concept in the business world, but there are other examples that are close enough. An example analogy might be the early railroad days with each company having their own track gauge sizes. Eventually it was agreed to have a single gauge, but there were still multiple railroads and brands of engines and cars. They also agreed to play nice with each other and use each others tracks, and the government in a lot of cases stepped in and adjusted laws in the favor of retaining (or seizing via eminent domain) right of ways for the tracks.
I think FOSS will be universally adopted, because it has the momentum and mindshare now within the developer community of the younger people,not the users yet but the developers, who are becoming the techs/admins and eventually the managers all across the professional IT board, the dreaded PHBes. They will use what they are comfortable with, and attrition will negate the dominance of closed source and propietary and (more) expensive.
But I also think that change in hardware will dictate what gets used as well, I can foresee when all devices use embedded, and that will extend to the desktop, both home and business, which will go to a merge between a full thin client model, distributed computing, and stand alone single use machines. Hmm, for example, the "business desktop" that comes prebuilt to work only with a secure company server system, and is even more modular than wehat we have today, extremely easy plug and play modularity, with "aware" components that don't have to work in conjunction with extremely specific hardware, following the USB and Firewire progression modality, and that also contain their own processors, ram, OS and so forth. Plug it in, it can talk to all the other devices, not being dependent on a single OS, just having a common way to communicate in other words.
It's interesting to watch it really. Cellphones that are becoming PDAs with audio video capabilities, PDAs that evolve into cell phones, desktops that resemble laptops (smaller, adoption of LCDish screens, etc), laptops that can mimic powerful desktops justfrom advanced features, etc. Hardrives becoming more RAM like, while RAM being used more and more like a hardrive used to be used for.
It's quite amazing really, because we've crossed the point where any sort of single monolithic standard can be dominant, there just isn't time to market something extensively before it's entirely obsolete, this will gradually force just the interoperability standards of communicating between devices to determine general computing trends more than anything else, and even there that's a moving target right now.
first of all, linux is probably more adopted in the US than anywhere else. secondly, linux is not the most adopted in the rest of the world, windows is.
did you forget to take your meds?
The huge risk in not migrating is not being able to satisfy your customers while your competitors do.
If your clients decide TCO is compelling, then it doesn't matter what you think - someone will be there to support them, and someone will be there to send them documents in formats that work well for them, or take their data in formats you can't handle, or whatever is relevant to your business.
That's how Windows and Office came to dominate in the first place: Some people saw a benefit, and they got a domino effect from partners, customers etc. that may not have seen a direct benefit, but saw a benefit in interoperating with people who had taken the leap.
Enough said.
I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
Miguel's got a great point, one that evangelical F/OSS developers tend to miss: If you want the lay person to celebrate F/OSS software, make it available to them, meaning make it build and run on Windows. I've had great success migrating almost all of my Windows-using friends and family to Firefox and GAIM. Both of these packages are obviously superior to their proprietary, Windows-only counterparts, and my users understand this within the first five minutes of working with them.
But fundamentalist F/OSS developers often tell me that they don't want their software running on the Evil Empire's OS and that if users want to run them they need to use a supported OS. They seem to be angry at the user for running Windows in the first place. I think this is a counter-productive attitude: We want people to use F/OSS software, but we refuse to make it available on the OS that the majority of them run?
I don't mean to imply that all or even most developers feel this way, but it remains an attitude that must be dealt with if we are ever to 'dominate the world.'
-Nick