What other product? All those alternative PC operating systems that run required Windows apps flawlessly. I try not to use Windows wherever possible, but it's the range of apps and hardware that present a difficulty in switching. A market dominated by one company that makes specific efforts to prevent switching from it's products is not a free market.
Under pressure from the UK government, car manufacturers have now made their cars sold in this country much harder to steal, and as a result car crime is falling. Perhaps they should do the same to software manufacturers.
No you didn't, you said that writing better software was the way to convince people not to use Office, which is not true, given that supporting the regularly changing and poorly documented formats is the primary requirement to convince users to change.
Yes, Windows is so easy to use that no-one bought the Windows for Dummies book. Your analysis is flawed. Windows is used by nearly everyone because that is what comes with the PC, and because the choice of applications (which has nothing to do with the quality of the OS) is much greater. It's the barrier to entry that keeps Windows where it is and Microsoft have done everything possible, legal and illegal, to keep that barrier high.
When a format arises that provides more capability than the Word format
It will not be supported by Word, and due to the fact that the vast majority of people use Word and are unwilling to spend time converting their files to a new format, the new format will either die or only be used by a few.
Please stop pretending that producing better software will magically remove MS Office's huge market share. If said product can't read Office formats then it will not be used, no matter how amazingly good it might be. Why do you think Office compatibility is such a big issue with all those developing alternatives?
I have tried Win2K, it took several hours to install, due to it freezing randomly while trying to load drivers for every piece of PC hardware in existence (so it seemed anyway) and then was massively unstable whenever I tried to use it, ending up with me installing Win98 back over it. My machine is a stock PIII-500, bought at the end of 1999, without any esoteric hardware at all, and after the hassles I had and the financial loss of buying said junk and it being useless to me I refuse ever to give Microsoft my money again.
Well considering that software companies like to call a bug-ridden shambles of an application a 'solution', it seems like there could be quite a way to go to get any of them to tell the truth.
I'm sure that will be of great comfort to those who bought a console expecting it to just work, should any major problems surface. I doubt consumers will be as accomodating as they have been with PC software somehow.
There is no shortage of Microsoft zealots on this site, usually telling us that Windows 2000 is the greatest OS on earth and that using anything else is a waste of time - in short, no different from Mac or Linux zealots.
If Europe has a problem, maybe they can reimburse the USA in those brand spanking new Euros for the money given to Post War Europe for reconstruction through the Marshall Plan
My parents paid for my living expenses for the first 18 years of my life, however that doesn't entitle them to tell me how to live it. I am immensely grateful to your grandparents for rebuilding our extremely screwed up continent after World War 2, but that doesn't entitle their grandchildren to act as if they own the world.
Don't get me wrong, the attacks of September 11th were an outrage as were all the excesses of fascist mass-murderers in South America and South East Asia, which were supported enthusiastically by the US (and to our shame the UK), not to mention the ongoing US support of the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians. The US isn't an object of hate due to something as trivial as jealousy, but rather due to the arrogant disregard of the rights of the citizens of other nations.
That's why so much money is wasted in IT and why so many projects fail, because the 'cult' of IT, i.e. the experts in the field, are ignored by someone who has probably never actually done any IT-related work. Maybe one day management might actually listen to their own staff instead of believing that a salesman is telling the truth.
The default WM of GNOME is Sawfish, and has been for quite some time. Perhaps you'd like to update your opinions from 1999 to 2002 instead of blindly banging on about Linux desktops being too hard.
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What other product? All those alternative PC operating systems that run required Windows apps flawlessly. I try not to use Windows wherever possible, but it's the range of apps and hardware that present a difficulty in switching. A market dominated by one company that makes specific efforts to prevent switching from it's products is not a free market.
Under pressure from the UK government, car manufacturers have now made their cars sold in this country much harder to steal, and as a result car crime is falling. Perhaps they should do the same to software manufacturers.
Why should RedHat care about recovering broken XP systems? Shouldn't the vendor have provided said facility?
No they claim it is the most secure Microsoft OS ever, which, given their track record, could very well be true.
Tell that to the Vietnamese or the Indonesians, both of whom have suffered greatly thanks to US foreign policy.
If you're going to start throwing stones, perhaps you'd like to include Microsoft in that list, being the greatest plagiarist in the IT industry.
No you didn't, you said that writing better software was the way to convince people not to use Office, which is not true, given that supporting the regularly changing and poorly documented formats is the primary requirement to convince users to change.
And as soon as Microsoft provide me with a Linux version, that's what I'll do.
Yes, Windows is so easy to use that no-one bought the Windows for Dummies book. Your analysis is flawed. Windows is used by nearly everyone because that is what comes with the PC, and because the choice of applications (which has nothing to do with the quality of the OS) is much greater. It's the barrier to entry that keeps Windows where it is and Microsoft have done everything possible, legal and illegal, to keep that barrier high.
When a format arises that provides more capability than the Word format
It will not be supported by Word, and due to the fact that the vast majority of people use Word and are unwilling to spend time converting their files to a new format, the new format will either die or only be used by a few.
Which is an excellent reason to try and encourage people to use something well documented such as HTML or PDF.
Please stop pretending that producing better software will magically remove MS Office's huge market share. If said product can't read Office formats then it will not be used, no matter how amazingly good it might be. Why do you think Office compatibility is such a big issue with all those developing alternatives?
Does LaTeX allow you to output in a format that Word can read? If not then you're still stuffed, irrespective of how good it may be.
Possibly he means dyslexic, but you're not the first to wonder.
I have tried Win2K, it took several hours to install, due to it freezing randomly while trying to load drivers for every piece of PC hardware in existence (so it seemed anyway) and then was massively unstable whenever I tried to use it, ending up with me installing Win98 back over it. My machine is a stock PIII-500, bought at the end of 1999, without any esoteric hardware at all, and after the hassles I had and the financial loss of buying said junk and it being useless to me I refuse ever to give Microsoft my money again.
Well considering that software companies like to call a bug-ridden shambles of an application a 'solution', it seems like there could be quite a way to go to get any of them to tell the truth.
Except that Microsoft don't make their hardware, someone else does.
The Playstation? *sigh* Just put the wrong modchip in it... then see how far you get. =/
And how is that remotely Sony's fault?
I'm sure that will be of great comfort to those who bought a console expecting it to just work, should any major problems surface. I doubt consumers will be as accomodating as they have been with PC software somehow.
There is no shortage of Microsoft zealots on this site, usually telling us that Windows 2000 is the greatest OS on earth and that using anything else is a waste of time - in short, no different from Mac or Linux zealots.
Since when have journalists ever been unbiased? They choose what stories to fit their, and the owner(s) of the newspaper/TV station/website's, views.
A media free of bias is impossible, the best you can hope for is that the various biases will balance themselves out
If Europe has a problem, maybe they can reimburse the USA in those brand spanking new Euros for the money given to Post War Europe for reconstruction through the Marshall Plan
My parents paid for my living expenses for the first 18 years of my life, however that doesn't entitle them to tell me how to live it. I am immensely grateful to your grandparents for rebuilding our extremely screwed up continent after World War 2, but that doesn't entitle their grandchildren to act as if they own the world.
Don't get me wrong, the attacks of September 11th were an outrage as were all the excesses of fascist mass-murderers in South America and South East Asia, which were supported enthusiastically by the US (and to our shame the UK), not to mention the ongoing US support of the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians. The US isn't an object of hate due to something as trivial as jealousy, but rather due to the arrogant disregard of the rights of the citizens of other nations.
That's why so much money is wasted in IT and why so many projects fail, because the 'cult' of IT, i.e. the experts in the field, are ignored by someone who has probably never actually done any IT-related work. Maybe one day management might actually listen to their own staff instead of believing that a salesman is telling the truth.
The default WM of GNOME is Sawfish, and has been for quite some time. Perhaps you'd like to update your opinions from 1999 to 2002 instead of blindly banging on about Linux desktops being too hard.
Popularity isn't necessarily a measure of ability, unless you consider N'Sync to be more talented than Beethoven.