Yeah, but have you seen the cost of Oracle. Then through Oracle Spatial into the mix, man it's like a cash vacuum. :eek:
If Microsoft Never Existed... http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1869090,00.asp The alarm clock goes off, buzzing insistently until I reach out a hand and groggily slap at the button to silence the sound. I roll out of bed, pause for a few minutes, then head for the shower. After breakfast, I head down to the office. I've got several different projects in flight. The new Macintosh has arrived, sporting a new operating system revision. Apple's finally broken the silly fixed memory limit for applications, but the new OS still can't multitask worth a damn. Apple's number one market shareâabout fifteen percent of the PC marketâmake it a little complacent. Of course, it helps that Apple is unified, and that the other 85% are running a variety of different operating systems. ...... ......... .......... ...........
You guys seem to be arguing with yourselves. I know that MS has an OS monopoly and that people are limited in their choices. That's the whole point! Again, that's my point! The MS monopoly will not be broken overnight. THERE IS NO CATALYST. The grassroots Linux movement will continue at its slooow adoption level until such time as that catalyst comes along. I am not so naive as to think that MS will be on top forever, but I just don't see a catalyst. The "elite" computer users have been railing about MS for YEARS, but they are still on top. Linux caters to the elite! People that just want to browse the web and check their email could not give less of a shit what their OS is. What is their incentive to change OS? 90% of users are going to keep on keeping on with MS technology. Do you know where MS focuses a ton of their money? Marketing and user testing. Linux spends very, very little on these areas just by the nature of Linux.
That's the main difference between Linux and M$. Linux is continuously tested and criticized by users and developers all the world over. The other one only by a bunch of kids somewhere on the W-Coast. The rest of the world only has to pay up & swallow.
And in the end, what is your conclusion ? My point is the following : - M$ is a limited 'OS' driving people to infantilism (who would write on a physical file 'my file' ???) and not a single company should risk developing their systems on such a piece of closed source crap (ask all the traders who have to deal with excel upgrades). - Linux brings a decent open alternative. If you just can't manage its complexity, then just opt out for mac OSX. - I have been here and I have told people, now if they want to keep on relying on windows for their computers, they are free to do it, but please don't come and cry later on...
Windows is also continuously test and criticized by users and developers. The difference is that usability testing is a formal procedure by the MS development teams. The "bunch of kids somewhere on the W-Coast" comment isn't even close to accurate by the way. Some of the smartest people I know work at Microsoft. There aren't that many people I would consider kids that work there. I can't believe I let myself get dragged into a Linux religious war.