Open source threat

[lee635]

"Microsoft Corp. may in the future be forced to lower its software prices as a result of the growth of open source, the company cautioned in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "

Oh heaven forbid they not get their monopolistic markups. :evilgrin:



eweek article (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,857673,00.asp)

[invaliduser88]

And there was much rejoicing...

[gcutler]

It might take Bill 10 seconds of work time to pay off his mansion instead of 5 seconds.

[Mark]

Poor BILL!

[raj2001]

Although it's an unintended consequence of the free software movement, this is great news. Free software (open source) means freedom to innovate and modify the software. So it's free speech, not free beer.

So what if Microsoft has to lower their prices? Boo hoo a few million less for Bill Gates. Microsoft software cost too much anyway.

[firephoto]

There are some really great free or inexpensive office software packages out there now. Some of them even DON'T support powerpoint. **listens to the cheers across the country**

[raj2001]

Incidentally, I hope you all are boycotting Palladium/TCPA. With Palladium, MS can pretty much decide what can and cannot run on your PC.

[sampatterson]

Just my 2 cents. I don't think open source will ever "win" the wars. Substandard free software will never win over commercial substandard software <grin> If it had a chance we would ALL already be using StarOffice now. I have used it and it is far inferior to MS Office. I would much rather pay for office than be stuck with StarOffice. Same thing goes for Linux (which I do like) but it is alot more hassle to maintain, program for, find device drivers for things, etc than $99 MS Windows XP. Stability is about the same. I guess just like Satellite, consumers will decide its fate. They just will have to be burned by one or the other to make that decision.

[gcutler]

The one benefit of the Open Source is that if you are a programmer you may not have to wait for the fix, you can do it yourself. But I believe Sam has it realistic.

[lee635]

The article notes that its the backoffice and server side of the house that's most vulnerable. Much as a result of Microsoft's ability to dumb down the user dektop (remember Microsoft Bob???), they will likely continue to sell millions of copies windows, et al. :evilgrin:

[gcutler]

Originally posted by lee635
The article notes that its the backoffice and server side of the house that's most vulnerable. Much as a result of Microsoft's ability to dumb down the user dektop (remember Microsoft Bob???), they will likely continue to sell millions of copies windows, et al. :evilgrin:

They have also dumbed down the server side as well. In the old days of setting dip switches and editing text files I was able to really shine in the Netware or OS/2 Lan Server tech support position, but now people with 1/2 the experience I had at the time can do twice as much with NT/2000/.Net Server. In NT/2000/.Net they even have "Wizards" that you can use to create and support user accounts which even management can use. But instead of having to take 3-4 weeks of classes so I could support a system, now a days with the MS "Dumbing Down" I can support a system that I only have minimal experience with.

[firephoto]

Speaking of good old Bob.....

Did the merlin guy replace him? Maybe the cute little doggy? Seems like I have a little green character burned in my retinas too. Oh wait, there's that face in msword, maybe that?

hmmmm

Microsoft should publish some "helpful character" history articles.
(oh wait, maybe they were "experience enhancing characters"?)

:)

(an after thought)
Did anyone else have fun with merlin and the text to voice thing and your favorite 4-letter words and colorfull phrases?
ahhh the memories.....

[raj2001]

Star Office wasn't free software (truly free, meaning open source, GPL'ed) until recently when Sun released the source code, and we had OpenOffice. Star Office is definitely not filled with features like Microsoft Office.

But I would not judge all free software on one product.

There are quite a few free software packages which are better than their commercial counterparts. Likewise, there are quite a few commercial software packages which are better than their free software counterparts. I use a combination of both.

[marko]

Originally posted by raj2001
Star Office wasn't free software (truly free, meaning open source, GPL'ed) until recently when Sun released the source code, and we had OpenOffice. Star Office is definitely not filled with features like Microsoft Office.

But I would not judge all free software on one product.

There are quite a few free software packages which are better than their commercial counterparts. Likewise, there are quite a few commercial software packages which are better than their free software counterparts. I use a combination of both.

I would say there are a good bit more commercial software packages that are better than their open source counterparts, than vice versa. Heck, I'm trying to think of one open source software package that , when elimating price as a comparison factor, is better than a commercial equivalent. Of course, my knowledge of the open source world is somewhat limited, so I'm sure I missing some.

[Rick_EE]

http://www.flightgear.org

found this.&nbsp; Haven't tried it yet, but I looks interesting.