sorry i was a little to bold before, i do believe open office stands a chance of stealing microsoft's thunder in certain aspects, it is free and just as good as office. However there is still ALOT of apllications where you need certain excel based features, and as long as it works this way microsoft will maintain their monopoloy.
I wouldn't say OpenOffice is as good as Office, but it's pretty good, and completely free. The problem is that when you get a document you get a doc file, or an xls file. You are expected to have Office, and some other applications (like OpenOffice) don't always work, because of the special features you mentioned (OpenOffice does a good job though). And it's not only Office. There are many important applications that need Windows to run, like Autocad. Without going too far, look at how many trading applications run on Windows. And, again, the driver problem. Windows has a lot of users, and therefore a lot of attention. It's pretty normal. Yet, 10 years ago it wasn't normal to have a Linux server, and now it is. Apache is crushing IIS, and companies are starting to sell computers with Linux, or to support Linux. Just look at this thread to have an idea of how people would like to change. Hell, Microsoft is even working with Novell now. It's a slow trend, but it's a trend. It can't change from one day to the other, but it is slowly changing. And, considering all the companies that want to kill Microsoft, and that a lot of software is open and developed for free, I don't see how it can be stopped.
It can't be stopped. It's like stopping a river flowing or the sun from rising. The slowness is part of the 'business-model'. Unlike the M$ business model, that wants as much profit as quickly as possible, regardless of what customers need, this is autonomous, based on real needs. M$ puts in these rare, hard to reverse-engineer features so that ppl will use them and lock themselves in. They don't want standards, standards are bad for business; to hell with human progress, it's all about money. I think Vista is the harbinger of the demise of M$, and a lot of other companies adhering to that type of business-models. Evolution took a next step. The dinosaurs try to stop evolution, but they will become extinct in the end. Ursa..
Most big successes come from one guy with an idea and a lot of people doing things his way. Open sourced software comes from a lot of people with no idea each doing things their own way. I'm just not seeing the competitive edge for open source that is going to carry it into the winners circle.
You guys forget what it was like when IBM stumbled after its 40 year run. There were a million choices of operating systems. It was chaos from a developers perspective. Who sez Microsoft won't have a 40 year run as well. As long as they get Vista working, you whiners don't have a chance. Just quit bitchin and get on the bus.
Small difference: there were no pcs. They will get Vista working, as they did with XP, as they did with 98. But the truth is that they are just taking advantage of their monopoly. Nothing else. As I said, wait and see
Yes, there were PC's....with no standard operating system. CPM and the 8080 chip were just one combination in a field of a thousand O/S-hardware combinations. CPM evolved to Windows. Until Microsoft had Windows 3.1 in 1993 and promised hardware independence, there was no clear direction. Microsoft has the direction now. So, the O/S-hardware is not important anymore. What we are developing on the Windows platform is what counts, regardless of what version of Windows.
"Yea, my software don't work in Vista" Why is this even Microsoft's fault? This system has been in public beta for at least 2 years, and yet, software company failed to make it work in Vista. This show how much your software company care about you after they took your money. I run Vista, and it's rock solid. It's faster than XP too.
tHIS ISN'T JUST MS, this is how the software industry works. When you think of it, these guys would be long out of business without upgrades. Hell everybody would still be fine with Win 98. But this is how capitalism works, why do we need 3 blade razors ? I can't find older Gillette bladeswhere I am. I don't need these new razors. Why do car designers come up with new models all the time ? Plus most are ugly these days. Why do fashion designers try to push ridiculous, ugly but NEWER styles ? So we can all look gay ? Just say no to this shit.
The reason the software industry works like that is we are deluged with requests for improvements. Not everybody is happy with what they have. And thank U for them people, 'cuz I would go broke if they were all like u.