Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?

[sonny]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brunellus
p2p commercials are self defeating. Who will download an ubuntu commercial but an ubuntu user?


Not if it is a very very funny commercial. entirely created and rendered with opensource software!

I have to agree with demon666_nl, if the commercial is great everyone will see it; but I still think it should be an all distro commercial, cuz that way it'll be cheaper for everyone to put it on TV. I'm seeing this in a way that people should know there's a bunch of options IF they change to Linux, cuz either way, it doesn't matter wich distro you have, at the end we're all Linux.

See it this way, our mother is the Linux kernel, but she likes many men, so we (her children) have different fathers (don't get me wrong it is just a metaphor; perhaps a bad one, but it is the way I see it ), but when it's mother's day we all give her presents no matter wich father we have; it's the same with the distro's we have to support Linux (our mom) no matter wich father (distro) we came from.

Nerds who call average desktop users stupid are having a bit of tunnel vision I think

I'm not a nerd; I'm still afraid to re-compile my kernel and to do advance stuff; I consider my self, as many others would agree, as a "well informed user".

I've red the article and found interesting from a econometric and mathematical point of view (I want to read the full paper); but my guess is that those guys did their best but missed some important stuff about Linux, cus they don't know the way our community works, they haven't seen the forums, and use it as much they have done with Windows, so they know all the advantages of windows, but they don't see all the advantages of Linux.

It would be great if in a couple of years linux will be so big that hardware manufacturers have to work on open source drivers!

I totally agree with you; although we have some support from they, NVIDIA could be the best example, they are supporting Linux big time; at least more than the average manufacturer.

Would also be interesting to see Microsoft perceive piracy as good for business

My guess is that Gates realized it before we did, he let us copy his software and say nothing, he still does; even when they say they want to finnish piracy. There are more ways to secure a software than just a cd-key, and with all their money if they wanted to invest in R&D to find a way to secure their software they would have done it by now. An other fact, the cd-keys for XP came out before XP was in the stores to buy it, where did those keys came from?.

[poofyhairguy]

Would also be interesting to see Microsoft perceive piracy as good for business

They have for a long time. Didn't you ever wonder why they let pirate Window's copies get updates?

[GarySaved]

I do not think either will actually 'Win'.
M$ has the head start, and as has been said, with the amount of money they have, they can change the rules if they need to, Look at the winmodems. One little move like that, and all the computers with them are unusable to linux users.

As Linux gets more publicity, more people will try it. The perfect scenerio to me would be for everyone to know they have a choice, and be able to pick what they want.

I am not sure I would want 'Everyone' using opensource any more than I liked 'Everyone' using M$.

[ubuntu_demon]

here's the ubuntu commercial topic :

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=41771

let's continue everything about the commercial there

[sonny]

I am not sure I would want 'Everyone' using opensource any more than I liked 'Everyone' using M$.

I agree with you, if Linux gets too popular, someone will create a spyware or adware for us; as I've already pointed it is our natural barrier for those things.

What I really would like to see (and not the most probable scenario) is that no matter what is your choice, but that you can interact with other software; for example that MS-Office would read Open-Office format, the Gimp or Open-Office been able to read Corel Draw format, and things like that. I guess that would be a long-run equilibrium for all distro's (MS included).

[ubuntu_demon]

I have to agree with demon666_nl, if the commercial is great everyone will see it; but I still think it should be an all distro commercial, cuz that way it'll be cheaper for everyone to put it on TV. I'm seeing this in a way that people should know there's a bunch of options IF they change to Linux, cuz either way, it doesn't matter wich distro you have, at the end we're all Linux.

See it this way, our mother is the Linux kernel, but she likes many men, so we (her children) have different fathers (don't get me wrong it is just a metaphor; perhaps a bad one, but it is the way I see it ), but when it's mother's day we all give her presents no matter wich father we have; it's the same with the distro's we have to support Linux (our mom) no matter wich father (distro) we came from.

I've answered in the new ubuntu commercial thread here :

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showpost...27&postcount=7

I'm not a nerd; I'm still afraid to re-compile my kernel and to do advance stuff; I consider my self, as many others would agree, as a "well informed user".

I didn't want to offend you.

Do you read slashdot (news for nerds) ?

[ubuntu_demon]

What I really would like to see (and not the most probable scenario) is that no matter what is your choice, but that you can interact with other software; for example that MS-Office would read Open-Office format, the Gimp or Open-Office been able to read Corel Draw format, and things like that. I guess that would be a long-run equilibrium for all distro's (MS included).

That's a nice dream

[sonny]

I didn't want to offend you.

Do you read slashdot (news for nerds) ?

You didn't offend me... It'll be nice if someone consider me a Linux geek, but I'm afraid I'm far from being one.
But I DO think that most people have the idea that every Linux user is a geek, when there's plenty of people like me, a well infromed user, wich I guess would be more than the average but under the geek user.

That's a nice dream

That's the bad thing, it is just a dream, but if think hard, you wont find anyone getting hurt. If MS-Office would be able to read OO format, what is he loosing???
I'd say nothing, and the competition will be placed to what things they offer that OO doesn't have, that would be healthy competition (something MS doesn't like), and the true best software would win the match; not thinking about the innovations that kind of competition would bring up. But as you say, it a nice dream.

[ubuntu_demon]

That's the bad thing, it is just a dream, but if think hard, you wont find anyone getting hurt. If MS-Office would be able to read OO format, what is he loosing???

they'll lose some people to linux.

I'd say nothing, and the competition will be placed to what things they offer that OO doesn't have, that would be healthy competition (something MS doesn't like), and the true best software would win the match; not thinking about the innovations that kind of competition would bring up. But as you say, it a nice dream.

[desdinova]

For businesses (and as someone in the know who supported and trained countless users in Office) - its strength is its integration of VBA - a lot of businesses write custom applications around Office.....

Its not the file formats, but VBA thats the real killer app for Office