mahlah's having an off day today; winter time / xmas blues. we're going to meet up for coffee and console each other. =)
it's days like today that remind me what an effort it is to be less than private. the masses were freed upon my blog about Open Source targetting windows and predictably they read but don't comprehend.
endless comments about the same three things:
1) it's all about Freedom of choice (my argument says nothing about limiting Freedom of choice; in fact, it's not about Freedom at all)
2) i shouldn't be pushing people towards Linux (good, because that's not what i'm advocating; i was actually talking about Windows here)
3) migration is easier with common applications (well no kidding! it's about trade offs, though, and i tried to make that part clear)
and almost nobody addresses the issue i brought up: will Microsoft allow Open Source to co-exist on their platform and will Open Source on Windows actually provide a good showing for Open Source?
so 99% of people missed the point. fair enough. nobody said i was a good writer, nobody said my ideas bore the clarity of fine diamonds.
at least now i know that i don't care about portability and that i'm completely full of myself. *rolls eyes*
i am glad that people are talking about it though. i am glad that we can see the attitudes and viewpoints of people in and around the community on the matter. these are the things that matter because we have not generally paid much mind to the consequences of what we do as a part of this wonderful Open Source community, and if we wish to survive (not take over the world, just survive) in the face of popularity some of us need to start doing so.
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6 comments:
One of the points I tried to make back on your original post (i'm the "i disagree" guy, if you care) was that Microsoft's software doesn't actually have a huge advantage over open source on Windows. I haven't seen any reason to believe this is true. In your original post you talk about Lotus 1-2-3 and DR-DOS. Lotus killed itself by being slow to adapt. DR-DOS died because Microsoft broke compatibility, but that isn't relevant because we're talking about applications, not OS replacements. In application-land, being a Linux application doesn't excuse you from being compatible with Microsoft products; it's just as important as for a Windows application. Compatibility with Microsoft is the same amount of work whether you're on Windows or not (it could even be harder elsewhere due to lack of Microsoft's APIs). The "secret Windows APIs" that supposedly give Microsoft's programs an edge really don't exist. Microsoft's bundling advantage that it used against Netscape only works against commercial software; open source is free and only a download away. People won't hesitate to use it if it really is better (see Firefox). Where is Microsoft's huge "home platform advantage"?
First, I think you dismiss people's replies on related points too easily. What I read of comments were quite on-topic such as pointing out that cross platform apps ease migration, even though not many addressed what you now present as your main point. (and the comment that people read but didn't comprehend is just derisive, but hey it's your blog). So, let me address your 'main point':
Basically: 'Microsoft will keep changing the Windows platform to out-compete open source applications on Windows.' Others have said that there are no sectret APIs, which I don't know, there might be, but Microsoft must be careful in using them because they have a huge Windows-based developer community that would be up in arms about it. For they same reason, they cannot make changes all the time because stuff would keep breaking (which it sometimes does, but not as often as it might).
The only time that they can make major structural changes is when they upgrade to a new version of Windows. At that point they make claims like '90% of old apps will still work', which means 10%, probably more, will break.
So, you're right, Microsoft used their OS monopoly situaton to sqeeze out Netscape, but it's not so easy any more because the rate of OS upgrades has dropped dramatically. WinXP has been out for a while and Longhorn won't be here until 2006 at least. Lots of people are still using Win98 and Win2000. It used to be that the number of PCs being sold doubled every year (or some such exponential rate). So if you had a monopoly on pre-installed systems (Windows) you only had to make some key changes, like integrating IE, and wait a year for your new version to become dominant. However, the supply of first-time computer buyers is now drying up, so this exponential growth is gone.
The new threats are from things like patents and DRM Locking you into the new Office document type that is protected not only by encryption but legally by patents. Changing API's was the battle of the last decade, not this one. Major lockins will probably follow with Longhorn in 2006 so we have about 1-2 years to get ready for that. Moving 25% of computer users over to FF and 15% to OOo would be a great start because they would then get a taste for alternatives. In the meantime, Linux needs to tightened up further from the ease-of-use perspective so that when the sqeeze comes, people will find it easier to switch.
TheOpenCD 2.0 was just released with what is arguably the most well-rounded selection of Windows-FOSS (I would say that being the lead devel ;) ). Our aim with that project has always been to migrate people over to Linux, and we've seen it happen in several cases. The CD has always contained lot's of FOSS literature to spread the freedom message and links to key FOSS projects (including KDE). This time it also contains an introduction to a specific Linux distro (in our case Ubuntu), with screenshots and introductory text, urging Windows-users to have a look.
- Henrik
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