Startup times do matter. If not in the "big picture" (compared to editing time), then at least in the "perceived picture". If the average computer user has to wait 20+ seconds for a program to open, they start to get grumpy. My wife called me at work the other day to complain about how long it took OpenOffice Writer to open. She threatened to buy a new computer complete with Microsoft software if I didn't fix it. I upgraded to version 1.1.4 and it seems to be faster.
Not only bandwidth and disk space, but also time. If it takes 3 seconds for someone to recognize and delete each piece of spam, that 3 billion spams is equivalent to 95 people-years. You could probably double that to account for the personal overheads of sleeping, eating, etc., so it is equivalent to at least two wasted lives to delete all of those spams. And remember, that was only in one day! Evil.
For the past 2 weeks, another user of my ISP has been sending out Klez viruses, and using my wife's email as the reply-to. We've received a few bounce-backs (that's how I found out about it), but no complaints yet. Still waiting for the ISP to do something about it.
Aside from usability, documentation, etc., there are a few other things holding OSS back:
Marketing - Comercial software holds a big disadvantage here. Word of mouth doesn't spread very quickly from geeks to non-geeks. Most mainstream computer users haven't even heard of Mozilla, nevermind being willing to download, install and adjust to it. Even the tabbed browsing and popup blocking are not enough incentive for most people. IE came with their computer, it works, and all their friends use it.. why go through the bother of trying something else?
Shipping PCs with OSS - This could be shipping PCs with Linux, either dual-boot or standalone, but it could also start just by including Mozilla, GIMP, OpenOffice etc. on regular Windows PCs. Linux PCs at Wal-Mart is a start, but its got to go further: HP, Dell, etc., and people have to BUY them! One problem with OSS on boxed PCs is that its difficult to lure people to upgrade to commercial versions. You can't include a GIMP lite on PCs, with the hope that people will pay money to upgrade to GIMP gold.
Hardware support - I've been using Linux for years, and I don't enjoy having to do research before I buy a printer, digital camera, etc. to make sure it'll work with Linux. And if I can't get it to work, I'd like to be able to ask the manufacturer for support. The mainstream user wants to be able to plug something in, and maybe pop in a CD, click a couple buttons, and have it work. Sure.. sometimes everything goes fine in Linux, but its hit and miss.
And of course, there's the critical mass.. the more people that use OSS, the more people that WILL use it.
Slashdot Mirror
Startup times do matter. If not in the "big picture" (compared to editing time), then at least in the "perceived picture". If the average computer user has to wait 20+ seconds for a program to open, they start to get grumpy. My wife called me at work the other day to complain about how long it took OpenOffice Writer to open. She threatened to buy a new computer complete with Microsoft software if I didn't fix it. I upgraded to version 1.1.4 and it seems to be faster.
Not only bandwidth and disk space, but also time. If it takes 3 seconds for someone to recognize and delete each piece of spam, that 3 billion spams is equivalent to 95 people-years. You could probably double that to account for the personal overheads of sleeping, eating, etc., so it is equivalent to at least two wasted lives to delete all of those spams. And remember, that was only in one day! Evil.
For the past 2 weeks, another user of my ISP has been sending out Klez viruses, and using my wife's email as the reply-to. We've received a few bounce-backs (that's how I found out about it), but no complaints yet. Still waiting for the ISP to do something about it.
Aside from usability, documentation, etc., there are a few other things holding OSS back:
Marketing - Comercial software holds a big disadvantage here. Word of mouth doesn't spread very quickly from geeks to non-geeks. Most mainstream computer users haven't even heard of Mozilla, nevermind being willing to download, install and adjust to it. Even the tabbed browsing and popup blocking are not enough incentive for most people. IE came with their computer, it works, and all their friends use it.. why go through the bother of trying something else?
Shipping PCs with OSS - This could be shipping PCs with Linux, either dual-boot or standalone, but it could also start just by including Mozilla, GIMP, OpenOffice etc. on regular Windows PCs. Linux PCs at Wal-Mart is a start, but its got to go further: HP, Dell, etc., and people have to BUY them! One problem with OSS on boxed PCs is that its difficult to lure people to upgrade to commercial versions. You can't include a GIMP lite on PCs, with the hope that people will pay money to upgrade to GIMP gold.
Hardware support - I've been using Linux for years, and I don't enjoy having to do research before I buy a printer, digital camera, etc. to make sure it'll work with Linux. And if I can't get it to work, I'd like to be able to ask the manufacturer for support. The mainstream user wants to be able to plug something in, and maybe pop in a CD, click a couple buttons, and have it work. Sure.. sometimes everything goes fine in Linux, but its hit and miss.
And of course, there's the critical mass.. the more people that use OSS, the more people that WILL use it.
Only Microsoft would be silly enough to save a map with lines and text as a blurry jpg.