This article (and reality) are about converting enterprise desktops from Windows to Linux. In a 5000+ seat environment, "simple to install" and AOL compatibility are just not issues at all!
Linux at home is not going to be at all common for a long time yet. But in big business, Linux on the desktop would be very interesting. The lack of viruses and needing to keep track of licenses could save a lot of admin headaches. Of course, the current love affair with Exchange and MS Office, the lack of native support for big enterprise software, and reliance on VBScript-filled apps in Access and Excel are the real reasons for difficulty in migrating a big company to Linux on the desktop.
That also assumes symmetrical links for the home connections. Oh the irony of a 100 mbit / 128 kbit connection.
Bingo. That's exactly the kind of scenario you will see. Broadband providers don't want you providing content to the internet, they want you consuming content. The upstream is only to provide requests for content.
If you want a symmetrical 100mbit connection, try banding together a couple of T3 lines. Good luck paying for it!
The problem from the studios' points of view is that a 30-year-old film entering public domain is potentially many lost sales of new material. If it becomes readily available for people to get good quality content (movies from the '70s are way more "watchable" then any currently-public films from the '10's and '20s) for only the cost of physical production and distribution, then you'll see a good many people preferring to bypass new releases.
If I had my choice between paying $15-$25 for a DVD of a new blockbuster, or paying the same amount for the following 10 movies (all released in 1975 or earlier), I'd choose the latter:
The Godfather
The Godfather II
Lawrence of Arabia
2001: A Space Odyssey
Jaws
The Exorcist
The Graduate
Casablaca
Chinatown
Clockwork Orange
I'd probably find that I preferred the older classics, and would then check out more older stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that 30 years is a perfect length of time for copyright. It benefits people, not corporations. This is precisely why it will never be implemented.
My dad just bought one that offers one touch dubbing VHS & DVD+R/RW, in addition to being able to record directly to either.. I think he paid $200.
Betcha Macrovision prevents any copying of your purchased movies in either direction. On any hardware I've seen, this dubbing only works for unprotected tapes or DVDs (meaning home videos or recorded from TV).
Ummm, Win4Lin (like VMware) still requires that you purchase a copy of Windows for each computer. His existing computers won't run XP particularly well natively, let alone through W4L, and you can't purchase 98SE anymore.
So he'd still be looking at having to pay for new computer upgrades, ones that probably have Windows licenses already paid. Guaranteed this ends up costing more than migrating everyone to new Windows boxes.
Don't get me wrong, W4L is a great product (I use it too), but I don't think it works for this situation. I agree with suggestions for a Citrix server.
The events being investigated happened several years ago, and it doesn't make a huge difference if the details are known today or in a few months- except for the prosecution aspect.
Uhhh, yeah. There's one tiny other reason that this could make a difference. That being that the Liberals are in power and could call a snap election this week, to be held five weeks from the date of the call. If they can get through the election campaign without the opposition being able to attack them on this evidence (and the media unable to comment on it), they could get themselves re-elected, perhaps even get the majority it lost last year.
I don't mind this situation only if they don't call an election before the ban is lifted.
It's interesting how it is with listening and driving. They seem to use totally separate and non-dependant "processing power" in the brain, or at least in my brain. I have noticed that attempting to communicate in any way (speaking to a passenger, a cell phone, whatever) is detrimental to my attention to traffic and the road, but having tunes or talk radio on does not.
I really do not see an issue with the poster's request. Having something to listen to does not, in my own experience, reduce the "bandwidth" that goes to the road.
In fact, I'll even go further: when fatigue starts to set in, having silence in the car is far worse than listening to anything that keeps your brain occupied. Nothing seems to induce sleep better than a quiet, monotonous drive.
Microsoft crippled this OS on purpose. They really don't expect anyone in their right mind to use this POS. I believe that it released solely to prevent a Linux distro from being pre-installed on Asian PCs after the BSA hit squads start cracking down on PC builders in that market.
The worst thing in the world for Microsoft will be Linux starting to be shipped on PCs as the default OS in significant numbers. Their monopoly is dependant on making "Windows = computer" in the minds of the masses. This product was only put out so that OEM PC manufacturers in the East have less incentive to package Linux on their PCs. They are probably giving these licences to the OEMs.
Microsoft doesn't give a crap about piracy on home PCs: that's business as usual for them for the last two decades. Keeping them in the Microsoft fold, even for free, is far more important than losing mindshare to Linux. I'll bet that XP SE was specifically designed to "upgrade" to hacked XP Corporate very smoothly.
Of course, with XP SE being so crippled, it is essentially useless. Which means that every business (possible juicy target of IP raids) will still have to pony up the funds for full-blown Windows licences.
This is actually quite a brilliant move by Redmond. On the surface, it seems folly to develop a product that will never be used by anyone, and charge nothing for it. But given the alternative (loss of their monopoly), it will be money very well spent for them.
Damn, they actually included the Model 100 on the list. Those things were (and still are) extremely durable portable computers, useful for a lot of functions. Good to see that it hasn't been forgotten by everyone!
I posted this the last time Slashdot talked about kitchen computers, might as well re-post... _______
The problems with a kitchen computer are numerous:
- Space - No one wants to give up counter space for a computer, and besides it would be a pain to lean over (you don't sit down very much in the kitchen). - Cleanliness - a keyboard and mouse would be ruined in short order. - Noise - maybe a bit of a minor issue, but it's always better to have less noise.
I always thought the following would be cool:
Hardware
- Motherboard - a mini-ITX motherboard would be perfect (low energy, possible fanless operation, tiny, integrated everything). - Enclosure - a slim box that would mount sideways, screwed to the side inside of one of the upper cabinets. - Cooling - if heat is a issue, a plenum could run on the inside of the cabinet from holes on the bottom of the cabinet through the enclosure to the ceiling. A fan to draw air through (as well as the power supply, ethernet, etc.) would all be up out of sight - Screen - an LCD panel with touch-like screen, mounted portrait layout, right on the cabinet door (so that it is right at eye level, and out of reach of the small kids). - Pen - whether it is a true touch screen (like a PDA) or a wired light pen, I don't know, but this would be the primary input device. - Speakers & microphone - small, slim models also mounted into the cabinet door. - USB/Firewire connections - for quick upload & download to/from a PDA, camera, memory keychain, etc. - another PC - running as a server.
Note that I don't want a hard drive, keyboard, or mouse. The most work in this would be physically installing the screen & speakers in the door so it looks good and the wires flex properly with the door swing, and with designing the motherboard enclosure and plenum. Oh, and wiring everything through the ceiling.
Software
- X-terminal setup - this machine would be boot-on-LAN, and all storage would be over Ethernet - run as much as possible on the server end.
- Handwriting recognition - since the machine would never be used for entering in large amounts of data (I don't code while cooking), there is no need for a keyboard (most entry would be on the server, and this would mostly be a "retrieval" device) - but there should be a handwriting code for when you need to enter in text, maybe like Palm's graffiti.
- Applications - I want this machine to do the following functions - Organizer - standard PDA stuff (calendar, address, to-do, notes, calculator, etc.) - Recipe database - duh! (and actually useful, given the screen's location) - Message centre - retrieve both voice and email messages - "Thumbtack" board - leave notes for others in the house (vocal or written) - Browser - access to the Web and local files - Live Broadcast - you could access TV, radio, etc. with server-based tuners - Stored Entertainment - play back mp3, divx, etc.
No word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, games, etc. here! Just stuff that makes sense in the kitchen (communication, passive information and entertainment).
Even if all the pieces were in place for doing everything I want here, there would be a lot of work to build an interface that would pull it all together nicely. All apps would be set up for as little data entry as possible (tapping on buttons should be the main interaction).
Of course, all this is way beyond my abilities, time, and cash flow to actually do. But that's my dream kitchen machine. ____________
Since I posted that over 2 years ago, nothing's changed. The configuration is still exactly what I want, and I still have no way to build it:-)
Re:"threat" to MS?
on
Linux, Inc.
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Alright, "crush" is a figurative expression: the companies may still be in business, but they certainly are not in the same relative positions that they once were. True, some of this is due to mismanagement on the part of the companies you quoted, but mostly it was by sleazy dealings on MS' part that put them in a position of weakness: it wasn't due to Microsoft having superior products for the most part.
Let's look at your examples:
Wordperfect: used initial success of Excel (not developed by Microsoft, BTW), created an integrated Office bundle (including Word) and started practically giving it away to businesses along with Windows. Taken with some boneheaded moves by WordPerfect/Novell/Corel, Word is now ubiquitous.
Novell Netware: this one was perfectly fair. MS did a good job of demonstrating how their network OS could be done as an extension of their desktop OS, while Novell utterly failed with marketing and improving Netware.
Quicken: Microsoft tried like hell to buy Intuit a while ago, and were denied permission to do so.
Lotus: see Wordperfect above. Very similar story.
Netscape: Umm, this is the case that got Microsoft convicted as an illegal monopoly, remember? If this case does not completely prove my allegations, none will.
I might also bring up a few that you helpfully decided to ignore:
Stacker: copied Stac's compression methods then included it free in their OS. Where's Stac now?
DR-DOS: made Windows barf if you tried to install over its competitors OS. Where's Digital Research now?
Java: effectively killed Java as a cross-platform language by intentionally (and illegally) breaking its implementation in Windows. Sun's nowhere near where it could have been had they not done this.
1. MS Linux is created. Nicely polished. Has lots of marketting to PHB, something like "The best of both worlds!" Some important closed source applications only run in MS Linux. Such as the newly migrated MS Office for Linux. Or DirectX for Linux. 2. MS Linux crushes all other distros. 3. MS releases special features/support for paying customers only. Eg. RedHat support or RedHat Enterprise or Transgaming. 4. MS End-Of-Line its Linux with a simple and easy migration to its closed source OS. 5. ???
Here's step 5 for you... every customer that migrated to MS Linux back in steps 1-3 has a much easier migration path to one of the next Linux distributors, instead of back to MS's closed OS. Sure, if MS Linux takes off, people may still have some dependance on MS Office, but what about all the great proprietary apps that are now going to run natively on Linux, thanks to Microsoft's endorsement of the platform? What about all the IT folks that are now fully versed in supporting Linux, reducing the cost of supporting it? What about all the end users that now know how great Linux is?
You've just made Linux a tremendously viable OS, one that cannot be owned and controlled by Microsoft. This is their worst nightmare. Locking in their customers to Windows is not optional: it is a requirement!
6. Profit! (for MS)
You mean, less profit for MS, fewer expenses for customers that used to have to pay MS.
Trust me, what you've seen is either lazyness or they are holding back for a reason.
Microsoft is most definately not lazy, so strike that off.
You can't come up with another reason, and neither can I. Know why? There ISN'T one!
Two favourite ways MS deals with competing products is to either buy the company behind it and fold it in, or to crush the company behind it to get rid of the product. Neither works with Linux because the product is independant of any company: it cannot be purchased, or made to go away. So you must compete on the products alone.
There is nothing that can be said to argue against Linux that they haven't already tried, without further stretching credibility. Their current arguments may be obvious FUD to/.ers, but to many PHBs they probably sound somewhat reasonable. Anything else they say will just sound like lies and desperation, even to MS faithful.
The only card Microsoft has to play is the patent card, and even then they probably can't do it without a lot of bloodletting themselves, and it would also take years. Only if they can get Longhorn entrenched will they dare try this.
No, Linux is nipping away at Microsoft not because Microsoft is letting it be so, but because they are impotent to stop it.
You do realize what is holding Windows in its dominant position, don't you? It's the vendor lock-in of their applications and 3rd-party apps that depend on Windows. By validating Linux with their own version (and, by necessity of the GPL, opening up their related code), that lock-in is gone. Then Microsoft would have to compete on the technical merits of their products alone. Right!
Yes, Microsoft could kill most/all commercial Linux distros this way. But getting rid of competition isn't the goal of capitalism: making money is. Crushing competitors is only useful if it furthers you toward that goal. Giving away the biggest reason for millions of customers to stay with you is not good justification for squashing Red Hat and Novell.
IMHO, the home computer market is where this has the least chance of success.
For business, they may be able to justify spending incremental subscription costs for software: it may make financial sense for them to do so.
But the home user? This is a person that has never had to be subjected to using software that demands a monthly bill to be paid like your telephone, utilities, and cable. I would guess that the vast majority of MS Office (therefore, Outlook) users in home environments either pirated their copy (no cost), or it was included with their computer when they purchased it (perceived no cost). I predict strong resistance to this from the home market.
MS won't be able to drop the local Office apps for this reason. They need to not only keep their paying customers (that want control over their own systems) happy, but also need to keep the home users on the MS teat.
Good point. Here's a recent story on a similar vein...
My family knows an elderly couple here in Toronto, who went down over Christmas to visit their son's family in Massachusetts. They took the train, and it stops at the border for a change of staff and customs.
The customs officer demands from them the address of where they're going. However, their son moved recently, and they honestly don't know his address (he was picking them up from the train station when they arrived). The officer gets very belligerent, curtly informing them that they'll be put off the train right there if they don't produce the address. He goes to a couple of people and checks their documents while berating them. The wife (the one telling me this story) tells me she got very upset, and didn't even notice her husband take the form, fill it in, and wave to the guy that it was completed. He checks it over, says fine, and off he goes.
Of course, her husband had simply filled in the address of where their son used to live.
Was something so easily by-passed worth making such a fuss over?
Actually, that's precisely what Microsoft wants to happen (on Home PCs, anyways)!
The worst thing in the world for Microsoft will be Linux starting to be shipped on PCs as the default OS in significant numbers. Their monopoly is dependant on making "Windows = computer" in the minds of the masses. This product was only put out so that OEM PC manufacturers in the East have less incentive to package Linux on their PCs. They are probably giving these licences to the OEMs.
Microsoft doesn't give a crap about piracy on home PCs: that's business as usual for them for the last two decades. Keeping them in the Microsoft fold, even for free, is far more important than losing mindshare to Linux. I'll bet that XP SE was specifically designed to "upgrade" to hacked XP Corporate very smoothly.
Of course, with XP SE being so crippled, it is essentially useless. Which means that every business (possible juicy target of IP raids) will still have to pony up the funds for full-blown Windows licences.
This is actually quite a brilliant move by Redmond. On the surface, it seems folly to develop a product that will never be used by anyone, and charge nothing for it. But given the alternative (loss of their monopoly), it will be money very well spent for them.
You've just made my point: it's the *applications* that matter. Microsoft is dependant on maintaining application lock-in, which will maintain their platform lock-in (since they, of course, make it as difficult as possible for their applications to run anywhere other than Windows). That IE and Outlook are less entrenched than Word or Excel (in your opinion, but looks like it might be a reasonable statement) is beside the point: they NEED to establish as much of a stranglehold on the application side, and will never willingly give an inch of that space away on categories that matter (browser and mail client certainly qualify).
Slashdot Mirror
What sort of dork downloads things on their laptop directly?
Dorks that are downloading really illegal shit over someone else's wide-open WiFi and don't want to be tracked, that's who!
Try "Page 2".
This article (and reality) are about converting enterprise desktops from Windows to Linux. In a 5000+ seat environment, "simple to install" and AOL compatibility are just not issues at all!
Linux at home is not going to be at all common for a long time yet. But in big business, Linux on the desktop would be very interesting. The lack of viruses and needing to keep track of licenses could save a lot of admin headaches. Of course, the current love affair with Exchange and MS Office, the lack of native support for big enterprise software, and reliance on VBScript-filled apps in Access and Excel are the real reasons for difficulty in migrating a big company to Linux on the desktop.
That also assumes symmetrical links for the home connections. Oh the irony of a 100 mbit / 128 kbit connection.
Bingo. That's exactly the kind of scenario you will see. Broadband providers don't want you providing content to the internet, they want you consuming content. The upstream is only to provide requests for content.
If you want a symmetrical 100mbit connection, try banding together a couple of T3 lines. Good luck paying for it!
If I had my choice between paying $15-$25 for a DVD of a new blockbuster, or paying the same amount for the following 10 movies (all released in 1975 or earlier), I'd choose the latter:
I'd probably find that I preferred the older classics, and would then check out more older stuff.
Don't get me wrong, I agree that 30 years is a perfect length of time for copyright. It benefits people, not corporations. This is precisely why it will never be implemented.
See the difference?
My dad just bought one that offers one touch dubbing VHS & DVD+R/RW, in addition to being able to record directly to either.. I think he paid $200.
Betcha Macrovision prevents any copying of your purchased movies in either direction. On any hardware I've seen, this dubbing only works for unprotected tapes or DVDs (meaning home videos or recorded from TV).
Ummm, Win4Lin (like VMware) still requires that you purchase a copy of Windows for each computer. His existing computers won't run XP particularly well natively, let alone through W4L, and you can't purchase 98SE anymore.
So he'd still be looking at having to pay for new computer upgrades, ones that probably have Windows licenses already paid. Guaranteed this ends up costing more than migrating everyone to new Windows boxes.
Don't get me wrong, W4L is a great product (I use it too), but I don't think it works for this situation. I agree with suggestions for a Citrix server.
The "outcry" over the unique ID numbers happened because it was a tech issue that large media outlets grabbed onto.
Large media outlets have lots to gain by having DRM on consumers' PCs.
Hence, you likely will not see much of an "outcry" over this, since big media will not cover the story.
"eher durchwachsen" is just a very polite way to say "almost, but not always, completly crap".
;-)
I didn't know that "Slashdot" had a German translation!
The events being investigated happened several years ago, and it doesn't make a huge difference if the details are known today or in a few months- except for the prosecution aspect.
Uhhh, yeah. There's one tiny other reason that this could make a difference. That being that the Liberals are in power and could call a snap election this week, to be held five weeks from the date of the call. If they can get through the election campaign without the opposition being able to attack them on this evidence (and the media unable to comment on it), they could get themselves re-elected, perhaps even get the majority it lost last year.
I don't mind this situation only if they don't call an election before the ban is lifted.
It's interesting how it is with listening and driving. They seem to use totally separate and non-dependant "processing power" in the brain, or at least in my brain. I have noticed that attempting to communicate in any way (speaking to a passenger, a cell phone, whatever) is detrimental to my attention to traffic and the road, but having tunes or talk radio on does not.
I really do not see an issue with the poster's request. Having something to listen to does not, in my own experience, reduce the "bandwidth" that goes to the road.
In fact, I'll even go further: when fatigue starts to set in, having silence in the car is far worse than listening to anything that keeps your brain occupied. Nothing seems to induce sleep better than a quiet, monotonous drive.
Microsoft crippled this OS on purpose. They really don't expect anyone in their right mind to use this POS. I believe that it released solely to prevent a Linux distro from being pre-installed on Asian PCs after the BSA hit squads start cracking down on PC builders in that market.
The worst thing in the world for Microsoft will be Linux starting to be shipped on PCs as the default OS in significant numbers. Their monopoly is dependant on making "Windows = computer" in the minds of the masses. This product was only put out so that OEM PC manufacturers in the East have less incentive to package Linux on their PCs. They are probably giving these licences to the OEMs.
Microsoft doesn't give a crap about piracy on home PCs: that's business as usual for them for the last two decades. Keeping them in the Microsoft fold, even for free, is far more important than losing mindshare to Linux. I'll bet that XP SE was specifically designed to "upgrade" to hacked XP Corporate very smoothly.
Of course, with XP SE being so crippled, it is essentially useless. Which means that every business (possible juicy target of IP raids) will still have to pony up the funds for full-blown Windows licences.
This is actually quite a brilliant move by Redmond. On the surface, it seems folly to develop a product that will never be used by anyone, and charge nothing for it. But given the alternative (loss of their monopoly), it will be money very well spent for them.
Damn, they actually included the Model 100 on the list. Those things were (and still are) extremely durable portable computers, useful for a lot of functions. Good to see that it hasn't been forgotten by everyone!
it sounds like an ideal application for a Windows XP Tablet PC
Interesting, never really thought of that. How heavy are the things? Could you comfortably put a big one into a cupboard door?
I posted this the last time Slashdot talked about kitchen computers, might as well re-post...
:-)
_______
The problems with a kitchen computer are numerous:
- Space - No one wants to give up counter space for a computer, and besides it would be a pain to lean over (you don't sit down very much in the kitchen).
- Cleanliness - a keyboard and mouse would be ruined in short order.
- Noise - maybe a bit of a minor issue, but it's always better to have less noise.
I always thought the following would be cool:
Hardware
- Motherboard - a mini-ITX motherboard would be perfect (low energy, possible fanless operation, tiny, integrated everything).
- Enclosure - a slim box that would mount sideways, screwed to the side inside of one of the upper cabinets.
- Cooling - if heat is a issue, a plenum could run on the inside of the cabinet from holes on the bottom of the cabinet through the enclosure to the ceiling. A fan to draw air through (as well as the power supply, ethernet, etc.) would all be up out of sight
- Screen - an LCD panel with touch-like screen, mounted portrait layout, right on the cabinet door (so that it is right at eye level, and out of reach of the small kids).
- Pen - whether it is a true touch screen (like a PDA) or a wired light pen, I don't know, but this would be the primary input device.
- Speakers & microphone - small, slim models also mounted into the cabinet door.
- USB/Firewire connections - for quick upload & download to/from a PDA, camera, memory keychain, etc.
- another PC - running as a server.
Note that I don't want a hard drive, keyboard, or mouse. The most work in this would be physically installing the screen & speakers in the door so it looks good and the wires flex properly with the door swing, and with designing the motherboard enclosure and plenum. Oh, and wiring everything through the ceiling.
Software
- X-terminal setup - this machine would be boot-on-LAN, and all storage would be over Ethernet - run as much as possible on the server end.
- Handwriting recognition - since the machine would never be used for entering in large amounts of data (I don't code while cooking), there is no need for a keyboard (most entry would be on the server, and this would mostly be a "retrieval" device) - but there should be a handwriting code for when you need to enter in text, maybe like Palm's graffiti.
- Applications - I want this machine to do the following functions
- Organizer - standard PDA stuff (calendar, address, to-do, notes, calculator, etc.)
- Recipe database - duh! (and actually useful, given the screen's location)
- Message centre - retrieve both voice and email messages
- "Thumbtack" board - leave notes for others in the house (vocal or written)
- Browser - access to the Web and local files
- Live Broadcast - you could access TV, radio, etc. with server-based tuners
- Stored Entertainment - play back mp3, divx, etc.
No word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, games, etc. here! Just stuff that makes sense in the kitchen (communication, passive information and entertainment).
Even if all the pieces were in place for doing everything I want here, there would be a lot of work to build an interface that would pull it all together nicely. All apps would be set up for as little data entry as possible (tapping on buttons should be the main interaction).
Of course, all this is way beyond my abilities, time, and cash flow to actually do. But that's my dream kitchen machine.
____________
Since I posted that over 2 years ago, nothing's changed. The configuration is still exactly what I want, and I still have no way to build it
Alright, "crush" is a figurative expression: the companies may still be in business, but they certainly are not in the same relative positions that they once were. True, some of this is due to mismanagement on the part of the companies you quoted, but mostly it was by sleazy dealings on MS' part that put them in a position of weakness: it wasn't due to Microsoft having superior products for the most part.
Let's look at your examples:
Wordperfect: used initial success of Excel (not developed by Microsoft, BTW), created an integrated Office bundle (including Word) and started practically giving it away to businesses along with Windows. Taken with some boneheaded moves by WordPerfect/Novell/Corel, Word is now ubiquitous.
Novell Netware: this one was perfectly fair. MS did a good job of demonstrating how their network OS could be done as an extension of their desktop OS, while Novell utterly failed with marketing and improving Netware.
Quicken: Microsoft tried like hell to buy Intuit a while ago, and were denied permission to do so.
Lotus: see Wordperfect above. Very similar story.
Netscape: Umm, this is the case that got Microsoft convicted as an illegal monopoly, remember? If this case does not completely prove my allegations, none will.
I might also bring up a few that you helpfully decided to ignore:
Stacker: copied Stac's compression methods then included it free in their OS. Where's Stac now?
DR-DOS: made Windows barf if you tried to install over its competitors OS. Where's Digital Research now?
Java: effectively killed Java as a cross-platform language by intentionally (and illegally) breaking its implementation in Windows. Sun's nowhere near where it could have been had they not done this.
I could go on, but my point's made.
1. MS Linux is created. Nicely polished. Has lots of marketting to PHB, something like "The best of both worlds!" Some important closed source applications only run in MS Linux. Such as the newly migrated MS Office for Linux. Or DirectX for Linux.
2. MS Linux crushes all other distros.
3. MS releases special features/support for paying customers only. Eg. RedHat support or RedHat Enterprise or Transgaming.
4. MS End-Of-Line its Linux with a simple and easy migration to its closed source OS.
5. ???
Here's step 5 for you... every customer that migrated to MS Linux back in steps 1-3 has a much easier migration path to one of the next Linux distributors, instead of back to MS's closed OS. Sure, if MS Linux takes off, people may still have some dependance on MS Office, but what about all the great proprietary apps that are now going to run natively on Linux, thanks to Microsoft's endorsement of the platform? What about all the IT folks that are now fully versed in supporting Linux, reducing the cost of supporting it? What about all the end users that now know how great Linux is?
You've just made Linux a tremendously viable OS, one that cannot be owned and controlled by Microsoft. This is their worst nightmare. Locking in their customers to Windows is not optional: it is a requirement!
6. Profit! (for MS)
You mean, less profit for MS, fewer expenses for customers that used to have to pay MS.
Trust me, what you've seen is either lazyness or they are holding back for a reason.
/.ers, but to many PHBs they probably sound somewhat reasonable. Anything else they say will just sound like lies and desperation, even to MS faithful.
Microsoft is most definately not lazy, so strike that off.
You can't come up with another reason, and neither can I. Know why? There ISN'T one!
Two favourite ways MS deals with competing products is to either buy the company behind it and fold it in, or to crush the company behind it to get rid of the product. Neither works with Linux because the product is independant of any company: it cannot be purchased, or made to go away. So you must compete on the products alone.
There is nothing that can be said to argue against Linux that they haven't already tried, without further stretching credibility. Their current arguments may be obvious FUD to
The only card Microsoft has to play is the patent card, and even then they probably can't do it without a lot of bloodletting themselves, and it would also take years. Only if they can get Longhorn entrenched will they dare try this.
No, Linux is nipping away at Microsoft not because Microsoft is letting it be so, but because they are impotent to stop it.
Can you say "cutting your own throat"?
You do realize what is holding Windows in its dominant position, don't you? It's the vendor lock-in of their applications and 3rd-party apps that depend on Windows. By validating Linux with their own version (and, by necessity of the GPL, opening up their related code), that lock-in is gone. Then Microsoft would have to compete on the technical merits of their products alone. Right!
Yes, Microsoft could kill most/all commercial Linux distros this way. But getting rid of competition isn't the goal of capitalism: making money is. Crushing competitors is only useful if it furthers you toward that goal. Giving away the biggest reason for millions of customers to stay with you is not good justification for squashing Red Hat and Novell.
IMHO, the home computer market is where this has the least chance of success.
For business, they may be able to justify spending incremental subscription costs for software: it may make financial sense for them to do so.
But the home user? This is a person that has never had to be subjected to using software that demands a monthly bill to be paid like your telephone, utilities, and cable. I would guess that the vast majority of MS Office (therefore, Outlook) users in home environments either pirated their copy (no cost), or it was included with their computer when they purchased it (perceived no cost). I predict strong resistance to this from the home market.
MS won't be able to drop the local Office apps for this reason. They need to not only keep their paying customers (that want control over their own systems) happy, but also need to keep the home users on the MS teat.
Good point. Here's a recent story on a similar vein...
My family knows an elderly couple here in Toronto, who went down over Christmas to visit their son's family in Massachusetts. They took the train, and it stops at the border for a change of staff and customs.
The customs officer demands from them the address of where they're going. However, their son moved recently, and they honestly don't know his address (he was picking them up from the train station when they arrived). The officer gets very belligerent, curtly informing them that they'll be put off the train right there if they don't produce the address. He goes to a couple of people and checks their documents while berating them. The wife (the one telling me this story) tells me she got very upset, and didn't even notice her husband take the form, fill it in, and wave to the guy that it was completed. He checks it over, says fine, and off he goes.
Of course, her husband had simply filled in the address of where their son used to live.
Was something so easily by-passed worth making such a fuss over?
Actually, that's precisely what Microsoft wants to happen (on Home PCs, anyways)!
The worst thing in the world for Microsoft will be Linux starting to be shipped on PCs as the default OS in significant numbers. Their monopoly is dependant on making "Windows = computer" in the minds of the masses. This product was only put out so that OEM PC manufacturers in the East have less incentive to package Linux on their PCs. They are probably giving these licences to the OEMs.
Microsoft doesn't give a crap about piracy on home PCs: that's business as usual for them for the last two decades. Keeping them in the Microsoft fold, even for free, is far more important than losing mindshare to Linux. I'll bet that XP SE was specifically designed to "upgrade" to hacked XP Corporate very smoothly.
Of course, with XP SE being so crippled, it is essentially useless. Which means that every business (possible juicy target of IP raids) will still have to pony up the funds for full-blown Windows licences.
This is actually quite a brilliant move by Redmond. On the surface, it seems folly to develop a product that will never be used by anyone, and charge nothing for it. But given the alternative (loss of their monopoly), it will be money very well spent for them.
Kind of gives old Dubya a run for his money, doesn't it?
You've just made my point: it's the *applications* that matter. Microsoft is dependant on maintaining application lock-in, which will maintain their platform lock-in (since they, of course, make it as difficult as possible for their applications to run anywhere other than Windows). That IE and Outlook are less entrenched than Word or Excel (in your opinion, but looks like it might be a reasonable statement) is beside the point: they NEED to establish as much of a stranglehold on the application side, and will never willingly give an inch of that space away on categories that matter (browser and mail client certainly qualify).