Re: Open Source Leaving Microsoft Sitting on the Fence?

From: Nick Landsberg (SPAMhukolauTRAP_at_SPAMworldnetTRAP.att.net)
Date: 07/23/04 

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2004 00:40:33 GMT

Juhan Leemet wrote:

[Much Snipped}

>
> Back to M$... Their problem is that they really ONLY sell S/W. They have
> managed to create a sweet deal: self-sustaining (co)monopoly of sorts: M$
> Office requires Windoze & the main applications for Windoze is M$ Office
> (thanks in part to a number of dirty tricks over the years!). This is the
> 1,2 sucker punch to most in the PC computer buying marketplace. Then once
> that is sown up, and Windoze & Office have the majority of the market it
> acquires an inertia of its own. How is someone going to get rid of Windoze
> and Office when they have 1000s office workers using it? Easier to upgrade.

Being rather a cynic, I have also harbored a suspicion that with this
business model there is *zero* incentive to make Microsoft
software efficient. When you buy the "new improved"
version of Office and it's dog slow on your PC, the party
line is "buy a faster machine." Since Microshaft is the only
game in town for most companies (as you say), you get to
pay for yet another version of Windoze on that new PC (although the
cost is hidden because it's part of the manufacturer's price).

(By the way, this strategy also puts more money into the chip
manufacturer's wallets and the PC manufacturer's wallets, etc.
Do I smell a conspiracy here? 8^)

>
> Maybe that is also what lulled M$ into some kind of complacency? relying
> on that monopolistic hold? The suckers couldn't possibly run away, could
> they? If/when the tide turns, though, the effects will be brutal! It might
> slowly be happening now? M$ increased license costs accelerates the trend.
>

Nope, the suckers always seem to come back to buy that 2.5
GHZ machine, rather than run away. This puts
even more money in M$'s pockets. Don't know how soon the tide
will turn. Their licensing strategy may accelerate
the trend but not for a while yet. Remember, the vast majority
of the folks who use computers are not computer literate
and will accept whatever spit is thrown at them because
they don't know any better.

[MORE SNIP] 

-- 
"It is impossible to make anything foolproof
because fools are so ingenious"
  - A. Bloch