Harvard Concludes Linux Will Remain Second Best

watzinaneihm writes "A Harvard Study which uses formal economic modelling to determine "Will OSS ever displace traditional software from its market leadership position?" came to a (not so?) surprising result. Linux is likely to remain second best as long as Microsoft has a first mover advantage."

Comments

Make that third best

[Nice2Cats]

They forgot Apple.

Re:Call for innovation

[frogstar_robot]

Perhaps OSS developers should spend less time copying Windows and/or Apple and start thinking about new ways of using our computers.

And when they do, there is this other kind of poster who complains that OSS will never succeed if it isn't more like Windows. Maybe OSS developers should continue doing what they do best: Work on whatever they want to work on or are paid to work on.

Re:Good reason .. it hurts you!

[Americano]

So your reason for getting SO wound up over an article claiming Linux will never unseat Microsoft as "top dog" is because that conclusion hurts "the people"? That *is* what the gp poster asked -- why does this article elicit so much of an emotional outburst?

I call bullshit on THAT claim of yours -- I'm a little skeptical of anybody I don't know who claims to have "MY" best interests at heart as their sole reason for doing something. If you're so altrusitically-minded, why aren't you out there evangelizing against McDonald's and cigarettes? After all, in terms of harm, I think that smoking & fast food do more harm to people than Microsoft's monopoly status ever will.

I'll take a stab at answering the grandparent's question about why this article drew such a knee-jerk, emotional response. I'm going to burn a lot of good karma for saying this, but what the fuck, I aim to misbehave.

I'm going to preface this with a statement, however: at home I use Mac OS X and a Ubuntu system. At work, our servers run AIX, Solaris, and Red Hat, and my laptop runs Windows. I use all of these systems more or less every day, so I'm not saying what I'm about to say as a Windows user, or a Mac user... I'm saying it as someone who uses the appropriate tool for the job at hand. Now, with that obligatory disclaimer out of the way, I'll proceed to answer.

For a lot of geeks, getting Linux accepted by the mainstream user is a validation of their "coolness" which they crave. And in that obsessive subculture, O/S choice has become a dick measuring contest, with the following accepted guidelines:

1. Mac users are always obsessive whiny fanboys; they're smart enough to choose a Unix-based operating system, but still gay enough to crave pretty graphics & functional apps that do things they want to get done. Dick size: A little below average, maybe average.
2. Windows users are stupid, mindless sheep; they're too dumb to figure out how to use Linux, and they're too dumb to stop paying the Microsoft tax. Insert other snarky comments about Ballmer & chair throwing, Gates & 640 kb, Clippy & MS Bob, and sprinkle with rants about BSODs, and top with a yell of "PROVEN MONOPOLY!", and you've effectively negated ANY point about Microsoft anybody makes here on Slashdot. Dick size: REALLY small. We're talking vanishingly small. Doesn't-she-know-about-shrinkage small.
3. Unix users are old-school, and deserve a little respect. But they still work on proprietary, vendor-locked-in code & hardware, like chumps. Dick size: A little above average.
4. Linux users are the smart ones. They're "free", even if it means that they don't have all the applications they want or need. They'll just wait for someone to write one. Dick size: HUGE. Monstrous. ENORMOUS. Throbbing.

So, when you say something like, O/S choice isn't that big a deal, what the geeks hear is, "It doesn't matter how big your dick is." And of course, to the insecure, that's just not true.

What the zealot evangelists in the "Free" software movement don't understand is that true freedom also means the ability for the individual to make BAD choices, even if they hurt that individual. Freedom comes with the responsibility to be informed, and choose wisely. They step beyond "educating" users and into the realm of harassment of other users, and this is both counterproductive to their case for Linux, and detrimental to their stated goals of freedom.

Okay, I shall sit down now, and patiently wait for the -1, Trolls, to roll in.

Classic line from TFA

[Mateo_LeFou]

"the authors believe, neither side is likely to be forced from the battlefield--Microsoft has too much market share and OSS offers too many benefits for users"

I find this hilarious. In the blue corner: Linux, which offers a bunch of advantages to users. In the red corner: Microsoft, which offers "we tricked you hahah you're stuck with us ((__HEADSHOT__)) lol!"