They have almost total control over 95-98% of the world's desktops.
More like 90-95%. Apple's share has grown significantly over the last few years, and Linux is still chugging away, and even growing through "netbooks".
And Google, Apple (iTunes, iPods, etc) and Mozilla are eating into some of that Windows desktop control. Imagine if there was any market shift towards OpenOffice - that would scare them. Hence the big battle over ODF and Microsoft Office's XML format.
Not to forget Tetris, although some considered that to be the 1980s' version of malware as thousands of Western businessmen wasted hours of worktime playing the addictive game.
I can also think of tsearch2, the text search facility in PostgreSQL - written by two Russian programmers.
Maybe we good supporters of the capitalist system like to see some competition in our markets. Otherwise, Apple might rest on its haunches and stop innovating. Remember Microsoft and IE: that is what happens when everyone accepts a monopoly as the norm.
I want to see lots of Android phones competing with one another. I want to see other firms bring out "iPhone killers". Apple make over-priced luxury goods - and competition brings down the prices, and forces them to keep coming up with new ideas. That is what capitalism is about: not worshipping at the shrine of Apple every time they bring out a new expensive product.
Competition drives capitalism. Not worshipping a monopoly.
It is to stop people from considering alternatives.
Why bother learning to use an entire new operating system when the next - this time guaranteed easier to use - version of Windows is coming Real Soon Now. Just wait a tiny bit longer.
Leaking the next Windows is a striptease show - it keeps the customers interested. Anticipation is always more exciting than the actual experience.
Lots of government agencies and corporations mandate IE, and they lock down the desktops and don't let their users install anything else. Your home user friends may all be choosing Firefox, but a heck of a lot of computer use is actually commercial, not domestic.
So 70% is not a measure of popularity, it is more a measure of forced use.
So I guess all those Linux netbooks that were sold in 2008 aren't being used to access the web.
Or the methodology is broke.
One or t'other.
Mind you, my wife doesn't use her netbook to access the web. She uses it to take notes at meetings and then transfers the files to her desktop via flash drive. Hmmm, I really do wonder if a lot of the "netbooks" are being used for non-web applications.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe Dell wants to renegotiate their contract with Microsoft, and this scare will improve their bargaining power.
"So, Mr Ballmer, that's a nice desktop monopoly you have. Pity if anything were to happen to it."
It shouldn't matter what opinion you have on net neutrality, there is absolutely NO reason this should be in the stimulus bill.
Well, it stimulated Slashdot.
Except that Intel and AMD hold vital patents to the set of technologies that are part of the x86 architeture.
You realize patents only last 20 years, right? Some of those "vital" x86 components must have expired or be pretty close.
nVidia's cloning a 80286?
I am looking forward to the headlines:
Linux accidentally destroys Microsoft
They have almost total control over 95-98% of the world's desktops.
More like 90-95%. Apple's share has grown significantly over the last few years, and Linux is still chugging away, and even growing through "netbooks".
And Google, Apple (iTunes, iPods, etc) and Mozilla are eating into some of that Windows desktop control. Imagine if there was any market shift towards OpenOffice - that would scare them. Hence the big battle over ODF and Microsoft Office's XML format.
What about all those other versions for compliance with anti-trust legislation: Linux without Media Player, Linux without IE, etc?
but I welcome higher resolution imagery of our planet
but I welcome higher resolution imagery of sunken treasure ships.
Not to forget Tetris, although some considered that to be the 1980s' version of malware as thousands of Western businessmen wasted hours of worktime playing the addictive game.
I can also think of tsearch2, the text search facility in PostgreSQL - written by two Russian programmers.
Cameras don't film people. People film people.
I bet if RIAA had stuck to suing copyright infringers, none of us would have ever heard of NewYorkCountryLawyer.
Well, I still would have.
There. Fixed your reply for you, NYCL.
When you're done, tell your boss how you just saved the company $400 a pop times 50 people, and ask for a raise.
Ask for a $19,000 raise. That way, your boss is still saving $1,000.
Is there a piece of software that will tell the whiners to STFU?
Yes, there is an Open Source program that does that:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("STFU!\n");
return 0;
}
Just save this code as stfu.c and compile with gcc -c stfu stfu.c
And don't forget to cue the spelling and grammar NAZIs.
Fixed it for you.
NAZI is an acronym.
No, it isn't.
As Wikipedia notes:
The term Nazi is derived from the first two syllables of Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
So "Nazi" is a contraction, not an acronym.
Bravo, you misspelt "cities" in two different ways! A good day for humankind indeed.
They are not misspellings, they are mutations.
He is evolving a new spelling system, and that requires variation before selection can take place.
It is like a car.
You never know when it is going to explode for no reason at all.
Dangerous things, cars.
Personally I doubt the existence of "articles".
People keep talking about them but I have never seen one.
Maybe we good supporters of the capitalist system like to see some competition in our markets. Otherwise, Apple might rest on its haunches and stop innovating. Remember Microsoft and IE: that is what happens when everyone accepts a monopoly as the norm.
I want to see lots of Android phones competing with one another. I want to see other firms bring out "iPhone killers". Apple make over-priced luxury goods - and competition brings down the prices, and forces them to keep coming up with new ideas. That is what capitalism is about: not worshipping at the shrine of Apple every time they bring out a new expensive product.
Competition drives capitalism. Not worshipping a monopoly.
"I hate being in college sometimes."
No...stay there as long as possible...it is your last place to be where fun/childish behavior is sanctioned and acceptable.
Hardly. I'm in my 50s and I can still post to Slashdot "where fun/childish behavior is sanctioned and acceptable".
You make it too complicated.
All the guy has to do is publish all his assignments on the web before he hands them in.
That way the ideas are all public domain before the university can steal them.
Simple.
This *is* the Android you're looking for.
It is to stop people from considering alternatives.
Why bother learning to use an entire new operating system when the next - this time guaranteed easier to use - version of Windows is coming Real Soon Now. Just wait a tiny bit longer.
Leaking the next Windows is a striptease show - it keeps the customers interested. Anticipation is always more exciting than the actual experience.
Unthemable? strange Aqua GUI?
Ah, so that must be why iTunes and the QuickTime movie player never caught on.
Whatever happened to those?
Lots of government agencies and corporations mandate IE, and they lock down the desktops and don't let their users install anything else. Your home user friends may all be choosing Firefox, but a heck of a lot of computer use is actually commercial, not domestic.
So 70% is not a measure of popularity, it is more a measure of forced use.
So I guess all those Linux netbooks that were sold in 2008 aren't being used to access the web.
Or the methodology is broke.
One or t'other.
Mind you, my wife doesn't use her netbook to access the web. She uses it to take notes at meetings and then transfers the files to her desktop via flash drive. Hmmm, I really do wonder if a lot of the "netbooks" are being used for non-web applications.
Gotta love that site: "Click on an earthquake for more information".
Just how do you click on an *earthquake*? Put your mouse on the ground and wait for the earth to start shaking?