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"i didn't know gnu/linux was a business"
that was exactly my point, btw. did you follow the discussion?
There is one thing though: The acceptance through a broader audience has a key value, for example when it comes to hardware support. Sure most drivers are free, but most of them would not exist without support/efforts from manufacturors. Think of no one apart from me and you using GNU/Linux. I could not buy a brand new laptop and use it w/o hassle.
[quote]Linux is only able to grow (very slowly but) steadly on the Desktop because it has not to compete with Windows at all.[/quote]
On both desktop and servers, Linux has been competing with Windows. Think about all those Windows replacement discussions on forums and blogs when people say they ditched Windows for Linux distros like Ubuntu, PCLOS, openSUSE, etc... Also, distro vendors have been competing with Microsoft for a few years now. Think about Novel, RH, Mandriva who convinced car manufacturors, town halls, ministries, etc to drop Windows for their own distro. There's something going on that we have to recognize. Linux is competing with Windows (and the winner is the consumer).
It's called a monopoly, you know?
And that's the only way for it to survive. Your model would just fail on the market, as others did before. Think about OS/2 or BeOS. Both were sophisticated approaches, the first one was even out before Windows 95.
We are the Borg, join us. What kind of an argument is that? Surely you can do better than that pathetic effort.





Member since:
2006-01-16
There is no room in the OS market for another Windows-alike OS. OS X has its hardware niche, but that's it.
It's called a monopoly, you know?
The only chance GNU/Linux has is actually not to rely on a typical business model. Linux is only able to grow (very slowly but) steadly on the Desktop because it has not to compete with Windows at all.
And that's the only way for it to survive. Your model would just fail on the market, as others did before. Think about OS/2 or BeOS. Both were sophisticated approaches, the first one was even out before Windows 95.