[Dclug] Where is the free software dividend?

[Serge Wroclawski]

On Sat, Dec 02, 2006 at 12:32:00PM -0500, Adam Morey wrote:

> Ubuntu gets better and better with every release?  It will take years at its
> current snails pace to reach the capabilities of Vista.

A troll! Yippie!

> I can give a first count experience of Vista, as I've been using the full
> production release for about two weeks now.  Not only is it fun to use
> Windows again, the OS is faster and has some interesting new features.

<snip>

Do you think we should charge Microsoft for these advertisements? The 
lists is what? ~300 people. At .03 an ad, if Adam keeps postsing, we'll 
have enough for a new Tux.org server in no time.

Seriously, why come on to a Linux-related list spouting the "virtues" of 
Windows..?

> You can debate whether Linux does or will eventually do these things, 
> but the reality is, there are productivity and technology improvements 
> of Windows that slay linux, mostly in the presentation aspects, that 
> hinder linux desktop adoption.

I love when trolls use words like "slay", it sounds so medeval. And you 
can see he's a kid or a suit, becaue he uses nonsense[1] words like 
"productivity". Of course, since he top posted, we already know what 
we're working with...

> Linux was getting close to XP is terms of features and support

Try again. XP was nowhere near as featureful or as supported as XP. 
Features, as measued by things you can do on it, Linux wins. There are 
more applications that come with it, etc. Support... do you mean 
hardware support, because Linux supports far more hardware than Windows 
ever has. Maybe you mean personal support. In my personal and 
professional lives, I've gotten far better support from the Free 
Software community then I have from any proprietary vendor, ever.

> I'm not a big fan of Ubuntu, but think Freespire will become a dominant
> player

I think LaRouche is poised to take the presidency in 2008.

Seriously, Freespire has no community backing, and no serious commercial 
backing.

> Vista won't be the downfall of MS, I agree there won't be a huge market for
> the $200-$400 boxes sold at Compusa and others, but the oem market will
> continue to give MS $50 for every PC shipped for now until we're all old men
> and women - that's a lot of money.

That's why folks like me continue to fight to get our Windows refunds 
when they're due.

Actually the reality is that Microsoft is one of the companies pushing 
for this faster hardware in a self-perpetuating market. If the hardware 
people buyed stayed the same, the costs would continue to drop even 
more. At that point the $400 PC would be loaded with $200 of Microsoft 
garbage. By keeping the PC prices inflated, Microsoft can hide its 
license fees, and the only way to do that is to make greater demands on 
the hardware requirements.

> Remember too, the MS gets %35 of its revenue from office, which also 
> has a new release and will keep that monopoly alive and well for a 
> long time too.

Lots of companies have Office in their sights. Between the ODF push from 
various governments, and the convenience of offerings like Google 
Documents, I don't think Office is as strong as it once was.

>  If anyone is in the market for a new machine, only buy one that is 
> giving free Vista upgrades, most company will give coupons right now, 
> to redeem for Vista upgrades when it becomes available to 
> non-businesses in late February.

Remember, when you're making out the checks for using Tux.org as an 
advertising medium, you should make them out to "Tux.org Corporation". 
Next time, please give someone the money /before/ you send out the 
mail...

> What's the rant on the linux laptops being expensive, Linux will run 
> on any cheap laptop, the wireless nic probably won't, and you'll 
> likely need non-open source drivers to get _speedy_ video, but it will 
> run.  The reality is for a gaming machine, you've need 1GB ram and 
> 128-256MB video card for some time, this is what is also required for 
> Vista and I think Osx too - the fact that linux doesn't really _need_ 
> that only goes to my point that Linux is presentation rich, which is 
> the natural evolution for desktop Oss as hardware continue to get 
> faster and cheaper - in five years, the standard $800 desktop might be 
> a quad processor, 512MB video with 4GB ram, hybrid flash/disk drives -
 
> why would you run linux on a box like that instead of Vista?

For the same reason we run GNU/Linux in general, because, for one or 
another reason, we don't like Windows.

For some of us, like me, it's an issue of Free Software. I don't like 
non-Free software, no way, no how. It hurts society, and we've been 
working 20+ years on making this solution.

For others, it's that they don't like supporting a criminal organization 
like Microsoft.

For others, it's an issue of functionality. I'm far more productive on 
my GNU/Linux system than I am even on the Macintosh I have at work. When 
I have to use someone else's PC, I'm even less productive there. When 
I'm home, I don't have the time to waste, I'd rather spend it being 
with my family or my friends, so I use GNU/Linux. 

People run GNU/Linux for lots of reasons.

- Serge Wroclawski

[1] Nonesense in this context, not in general.