Microsoft will not close a loophole that offers consumers a cheaper way to upgrade to Windows Vista. Users can install the upgrade version of the new operating system as a fresh installation, even if they do not currently own a licensed copy of Windows XP. The procedure is time consuming, but allows users to save about 35 per cent of the purchase price for the regular Windows Vista.
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Member since:2006-04-21
Ultimately, the day when end users can purchase their favourite software titles from their local computer superstore, just like they do with their Windows games and applications, you'll start to see people migrate.
Actually I think the days when people go to the store to buy software are numbered. FOSS Unix software has always been available online, and an increasing number of even closed-source software packages are available over the 'Net, too. (PartitionMagic, VMware and WordPerfect, to name three.)
I realize I'm in the tech-savvy bracket, but neither I nor the rest of my family (who aren't) has bought software from a store in years.
That being said, it does not necessarily follow that this will help Linux/BSD adoption.
Unfortunately, this isn't the fault of the free operating systems community but rather distributions who aren't willing to approach the companies and invest money into projects to bring software to the platform.
You keep making this allegation, and as far as I can see it is totally unfounded. Sure it would be nice for users of some of the proprietary software you put up with on Windows to be ported to Linux, but just because you haven't seen RH or Novell attempting to bribe Adobe et al. into porting it, doesn't mean they haven't. Equally, just because they get an offer of a bribe, it does not necessarily follow that Adobe et al. are going to take and start developing software for what they must see as a niche desktop OS.
Member since:2005-07-06
Actually I think the days when people go to the store to buy software are numbered. FOSS Unix software has always been available online, and an increasing number of even closed-source software packages are available over the 'Net, too. (PartitionMagic, VMware and WordPerfect, to name three.)
I realize I'm in the tech-savvy bracket, but neither I nor the rest of my family (who aren't) has bought software from a store in years.
That being said, it does not necessarily follow that this will help Linux/BSD adoption.
You obviously have very technically savvy people in your family, because from my experience in New Zealand and Australia, the vast majority of software bought is via their local store, along with computers and everything else; Dell for example is big in the US, but we tend to be 'old school' down here, where people like going into a store, asking for advice and seeing that there is actually a presence in their city rather than conversing with some faceless overseas company.
You keep making this allegation, and as far as I can see it is totally unfounded. Sure it would be nice for users of some of the proprietary software you put up with on Windows to be ported to Linux, but just because you haven't seen RH or Novell attempting to bribe Adobe et al. into porting it, doesn't mean they haven't. Equally, just because they get an offer of a bribe, it does not necessarily follow that Adobe et al. are going to take and start developing software for what they must see as a niche desktop OS.
They haven't done it, simple as that; don't defend Red Hat, Novell for their laziness; they've done NOTHING to entice these businesses to port their software - Sun hoping that free love and free code will save the day, Red Hat still smoking the bong that is GNU software, claiming that it'll all be sweet one day when all is free, and Novell sitting in the corner thinking that if cosies up the industry parana (Microsoft) they might actually get a bit of the action, whilst forgetting that Windows is like a cancer, it starts small in a company, and as 'integration' and 'features' are wanted; Linux can't step up to the challenge so the company is forced to scrap the Linux servers in favour of Windows and Microsoft's middleware.
Edited 2007-02-08 03:24
Member since:
2005-07-06
And don't forget market-share. A lot of Microsoft power comes from the fact that 95%+ of the machines out there have their OS on them. If Windows could not be stolen a large percentage of the users of pirated would start looking at the 'free' alternatives. Remember while a large number of pirates can afford to buy Windows if they had to, a percentage can not. And even of the ones with the money, 'free' is attractive.
Microsoft can not afford in the long term for 'free' OSes to represent more than 10% of the market.
Definately true; which brings into question why are there still a large number of people running legacy operating systems; requirement for backwards support or the fact that due to the implementation of copy protection measures, it makes it harder for those users to 'upgrade for free' using the 'neighbours cd'.
Will it spark off people using free operating systems like Linux and FreeBSD? as good as those operating systems are; and PC-BSD is a very good operating system for example, the problem still remains, immature hardware support and lack of third party software developers.
Ultimately, the day when end users can purchase their favourite software titles from their local computer superstore, just like they do with their Windows games and applications, you'll start to see people migrate.
Unfortunately, this isn't the fault of the free operating systems community but rather distributions who aren't willing to approach the companies and invest money into projects to bring software to the platform.
Sure, Adobe isn't going to port their suite of applications to a free operating system off the back of being a nice corporate citizen because ultimately when they spend a few million on porting it, shareholders will want to know where and how they will recoup the costs to justify the investment of money.
If a company like Red Hat approach Adobe and offer them the money which in return Red Hat receives royalties on sales as payment back, but at a lower rate (say $1 per box shipped for example), it would provide a sufficient enough incentive for companies to port to a free desktop.