Jean,
It is better if we carry on the discussion here about Linux rather than on the Intel thread.
On the Intel thread you wrote about the supporters of Linux that is was a cult thing. I have received permission to post an e-mail reply that I received from a very talented Linux cult member.
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Please give a warm welcome to Lars from Copenhagen who writes:
Hi, Carl!
Linus is no threat to Microsoft. That's true. Linux is, however. I now have 6 Linux PC's and two Windows PC's, and one of the Windows PC's will within 6 months become a Linux PC, because it will save me a lot of time. I will still use the Linux PC to develop Windows software, to run Microsoft Office etc., but it will not run Windows.
Of course there's lot of money in Linux. When you say Linux is free, it's not free as in free beer, but free as in free speach. It's difficult to explain to Microsoft employees and to other non-internet oriented users, but people who have used it, and understand the difference between the Microsoft way and the internet way, quickly realize, that Microsoft is not able to deliver anything internet related.
Remember, all internet technologies must have been implemented at least twice independant of each other, so Microsoft cannot invent and own internet technologies.
Some companies, that really have seen the lights, are: Cisco, IBM, Oracle, Intel, Sun, Corel, etc. I agree, that Sun's strategy can be discussed, but Oracle and IBM do make money on Linux, and deliver really cool stuff.
I've seen Corel Linux. It's much more parent-compatible than Windows. Extremely much easier to set up, much easier to use, much more difficult to mis-use, and when Corel Office and Corel Draw is there, it really blows heads off... You can argue, that Corel Draw for Linux doesn't exist yet, but that's the same case with Windows 2000. The release candidate 2 is real crap, and it should never have been a release candidate, but a beta version or an alpha version. Either Microsoft get to market too late with Windows 2000, or they will ship an operating system, that will not make all users happy in february 2000.
By the way: Not all people work for money. Most people want something interesting to fill up their lives with. For instance, Miguel de Icaza has now replaced his job as a computer technician helping stupid users with a job programming Gnome. I would like to be in his place, and so would many people else. They don't get rich on Linux, but they get heaven on earth. (Only nerds will understand... :-)
In United States it might be difficult how highly-educated people will work for something else than money, but in Europe it's the most logic thing to do. The more you work, the less money you spend... Linux is university stuff. Internet is university stuff. On Universities you work for little money but get high involvement into high-tech stuff. And you share everything. So you do on the internet. Music copying on the internet is unstoppable, mainly because the internet is a university product, and not a commercial product. So with Linux. It's unstoppable, it's about internet.
Kind regards from a rich Linux lover...
Lars.
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The above response from Lars was received sending him the following e-mail
carl a. mehr writing to:
Lars,
I just came back from Las Vegas. Saw both Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds, and came back home and placed more money on Microsoft. Linus is no threat to Microsoft, and Redhat sell its operating system for almost as much as windows! Even used the internet using Linus, but that really was Netscape doing the job. Linus Torvalds was very 'cool' at his presentation, but did not give any technical details. He was not too organized.
humble carl |
