No end to Linux.

[zscoundrel]

No, I don't assume it matters.  I know that it does.  These people 
control 90 of the money in this country.  They  make decisions every day 
that affect each and every one of us.

The 'corporate schmucks' control the big dollars and therefor have a 
huge say in where the main stream of the computing world will flow.  (I 
call this the modern golden rule:  "Them with the gold, makes the 
rules!")  Unfortunately, most of the time, they are making these 
decisions based on incomplete data,  or worse, thinly distilled 
marketing hype from less than unbiased trade journals.

Many in the industry seem to think that better technology is blatantly 
obvious to even to the most ignorant of the unwashed.  This is what the 
OS/2 people though too.  I know, I was one of them.  Unfortunately, most 
of these people can't even figure out how to properly back up their hard 
drive.

The desktop is where most of us, unless you are a carpenter or a 
painter, do most of our work.  (Letters, spread sheets, HTML editors, 
text editors, Email, web browsers. . .)  It might  be cool to talk about 
'the next thing, and some day the desktop might actually BE replaced 
with the 'next big thing' but only if the majority of us are able to do 
the work we need to do cheaply and easily.

The Application Service Provider concept was supposed to have already 
made the desktop and the PC extinct years ago.  They were going to 
replace PC's with web appliances, and hard drives with internet storage 
and application servers.  It hasn't yet, because most people don't feel 
comfortable with their information sitting on someone else's computer 
and having to pay every time they want to touch it, or run a program, or 
play a game.  So far, supplier greed and customer distrust has been the 
big factors against the ASP model, but eventually the marketers will 
figure a way to handle these objections.

We need to be prepared to debunk M$ FUD in a language the 'schmucks' can 
understand, so when they make decisions, they can make informed 
decisions and not just blindly follow the herd - which is only reacting 
to published FUD.

Michael wrote:

> You assume it matters what corporate schmucks do. They don't buy the Linux
> desktop now (for the most part) and even if they don't buy it later either
> it won't really matter. Linux and it's desktops will keep rolling along
> without them. We'll keep developing our Windows and Office killing
> software. Those that use opensource will save money and their companies
> will do better. If tied with other wise choices then eventually their
> companies will do better than the M$ victims.
> 
> Besides.. despite what M$, Apple, and even Linux thinks the desktop is a
> dying concept. It won't go away completely.. just as we still have the
> console.. but the market will go elsewhere. Whichever gets there first and
> best will rule the 'next big thing'. Some people think we'll all be using
> embedded apps, some think we'll be using VR, etc. We'll hafta wait and see
> which is right. Why fight over today when you can be innovating for
> tomorrow. ;)
> 
> 
> Don't dream it. Be it.
> 
> ;):):-):):-):):-)8')
> Michael McGlothlin <mogmios at mlug.missouri.edu>
> http://kavlon.org/projects/
> 
> On Sat, 13 Jul 2002, zscoundrel wrote:
> 
> 
>>Nah, M$ and all the lawyers in the free world can't kill linux through
>>the courts - even if they buy a dozen really stupid judges.  When they
>>make their move, it will be through the market - and they are consummate
>>masters of misdirection, deception and lies.
>>
>>Trust me, if there WAS something effective they could do at this point,
>>it would have already been done!
>>
>>Fortunately, Linux is not big enough in the desk top market for M$ to
>>kill it - yet.  They will have to wait until there is a critical mass of
>>non technical Linux DESKTOP users before they play their trump cards.
>>Once they do - unless we are REALLY PREPARED - Linux will suffer the
>>same fate as OS/2.
>>
>>All they have to do is wait until Linux reaches 30 to 40 million
>>NON-TECHNICAL desktop users and release a version of M$ Office for Linux
>>for a very good price.  This package will SOMEHOW have certain not so
>>obvious bugs that keep it from interfacing perfectly with the OS and
>>with other versions of M$ Office.  When they spread the word that it has
>>to be an OS problem because it works fine on their OS, people will be
>>pissed off.
>>
>>Then all they have to do is spread the word in the CIO/CEO and
>>non-technical PC mags that the problems are due to sloppy OPEN SOURCE
>>coding.  At the same time. they offer a very cheap or FREE migration
>>package to the then current version of 'doze with long term exclusive
>>contract commitments.
>>
>>At this point checks will fly, corporate policy will change, and Linux
>>will be sucking hind tit just like when OS/2 Warp imploded.  The fact
>>that we have 10 or even 100 times better technology will have nothing to
>>do with what people perceive or believe.  What the knowledgeable techies
>>have to say will be lost in the noise generated by the biggest FUD
>>campaign the world has seen since before the cold war!
>>
>>
>>Ian wrote:
>>
>>
>>>I too believe that there would be no end to Linux. Linux shall always
>>>live free. But in light of the new Lindows OS and Microsoft, Bill Gates
>>>is a very spoiled man. I don't think that he could stop Linux, but I
>>>would worry about Lindows. Even though Windows is not trademarked thus
>>>making it legal to use the name sort of, Bill will try to take advantage
>>>of the system to gain. He should not be allowed to sue the creators of
>>>Lindows, Microsoft is the biggest monopoly of any companies out there. I
>>>think that they are the reason places such as Xerox, and Adelphia are
>>>going belly up. Paul Allen one of Bills Buddies, not to mention who was
>>>at Microsoft from the start owns Charter Communications. Now he is going
>>>to buy Adelphia and make it his own, and guess who will profit from that
>>>Microsoft and Bill.
>>>
>>>If Microsoft should win in the end I don't think it would be the end of
>>>Linux, but it would slow down its evolution. And that can not be allowed
>>>to happen. Bill needs the competition or he would have no fun. He needs
>>>to realize that Windows is not the only OS out there and he needs to
>>>deal with it and not try to profit off of it, such as the case with
>>>Apple and Macintosh for which he owns fifty percent of.
>>>
>>>The only reason Bill is where he is today is because he is a thief.
>>>Nothing that has come from him is original thinking. He is what he is
>>>because of Steve Jobs and Steve Wassniac.
>>>
>>>"Good artist copy, Great artist steal" Bill Gates.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Ian
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
> 
>