I think this article is a rehash, but I am sure that there is still some grain of truth in it with respect to the sales of netbooks. I am looking forward to the day when all those netbooks that got isold with windows xp, only to be told that they cannot even update for security etc, we can just go ahead and rescue those systems with Fedora.
or..
… it could be that users like Windows. Imagine that.
Re: or..
Of course, there is a subset of people who actually like using Windows. And so be it. There are enough others who actually would want to make productive use of their computers and for them, we can help with Fedora.
Re: or..
I don’t think that the quantity of people who like Linux was the point of the linked article, so much as that Microsoft tries to force Windows upon people using business techniques that are questionably moral/legal.
Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
You know when it’s all talk and no action it’s worthless. How can people be productive when you use FEDORA when a lot of applications are not even compatible with it.
It’s funny how you have to bash another BETTER company just to make a point. When you actually think about it, Microsoft is DOING their job to make people’s lives a lot more productive by actually working with partners with regards to compatibility issues.
Instead of trying to blame someone else for your shortcomings how about you move your asses and work on them. Besides it’s so natural for you to blame someone for the failure of the Open Source community.
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
Thanks for the troll, anonymous poster from HP/APAC.
You miss the point. How many applications do you need to run to be productive on any given day? Email, video, audio, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, games, browswers – each and every tool is more than well represented in the Fedora/Linux space – but then again, you knew that.
When did I do this: “it’s so natural for you to blame someone for the failure of the Open Source community.”? The open source community is succeeding in many places, places in which you have no idea about.
Thanks for trolling. Do come back.
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
I love to troll blogs don’t worry I’ll always be back. Besides, I’m sure you made a blog so that the public can read and I’m so sorry to say I am part of the public. I failed to mention though… about the productivity part… I meant applications that the majority uses.
So i guess, your netbooks being returned isn’t a failure? How about just accepting that there has to be something wrong with it instead of blaming it on Microsoft. Or has insecurity struck?
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
Thanks for trolling.
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
Hi anonymous,
While there is some truth in what you say, (that is, common people tend to prefer the devil they know rather than the devil they don’t)
It is also true that WinXP has better multimedia handling (primarily codecs and media compatibility), and tons of apps – 99% of which are unsuitable for netbooks.
However, the netbooks were supposed to be a new niche between mobilephones/PDAs and full blown laptops, for quickly checking emails, posting twitter updates etc.
Winxp has been showing its age. Vista definitely is crap. W7 is still an unknown entity. I think Harish’s line of thinking is that Microsoft probably would have strong-armed hardware OEMs to force-feed WinXP by threats or offering xp at throwaway prices (my conjecture, not Harish’s words). This is not just fantasy but you know, MS had once threatened Dell (!) and had threatened (carried out?)’cutting off air-supply’ to netscape. so any suspicions are valid. You can refute that, meh?
Having used Linux for over a decade, I have no doubts Linux is a better fit for such devices. I don’t expect anyone to run photoshop on a netbook, however, thanks to intel, that might even be possible.
Oh, BTW, if you are going to engage in a full discussion, you should reveal your identity and not hide behind anonymity (so sayeth another anonymous poster ;-), This will be my first and last post here. So I don;t think I will leave my identity.
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
Thanks for your comments, SingNet poster.
I think the other anonymous poster (sitting behind a HP/APAC IP#) really understands what I am suggesting and you SingNet poster is spot on in saying that MS had man-handled and coerced via financial threats of OEMs who dare to ship anything else.
Let me recount an incident about M$ blackmail tactics in Singapore. I had been speaking with a store in Sim Lim Square to lease out half of his store to me to run a Linux outlet. Recall this is 2002. The economy was in recession etc etc. We reached an agreement – he would continue to run the whole store, and I will provide training for his sales folks to sell Linux on the hardware and when a sale happens, I will provide all the tech support etc. BTW, that store had another outlet in the same mall that sold M$ stuff. The morning when I was suppsoed to sign the deal with the store, I get a call from the owner that he had a visit by a bunch of people (3 he said) who were all from Microsoft Singapore who threatened that they will remove all the stuff he has in his other store selling M$ stuff if he were to run a Linux outlet as well. If you know Sim Lim Square vendors, they are there to make that one-cent margin and this threat effectively aborted my potential arrangement with him. His exact words were “I really don’t know how the Microsoft mafia heard that I was going to also sell Linux”.
Re: Your entry makes me LOL or maybe ROFL
Anonymous,
If you’re going to troll, you should at least put some thought into it. Whether I agree with them or not, none of your statements even made sense except for the second sentence on productivity (which I don’t agree with anyway).
Microsoft doesn’t have some “job” mandated by a higher power to make people’s lives productive. They are a business in a capitalist system with the intent to make profit. They’re very good at this, but whether or not they’re playing fairly is the issue that most people have. In a free-market system, the better product should (in theory) win out. I’m not going to discuss which is better, but the point is that Microsoft uses tactics to prevent other products from even having a chance (although Apple is getting there, since they use their own hardware).
Suppose I make a brand of scissors that everyone likes to use. You’re working on your own scissors, but when you feel like they’re ready for the consumer market, I tell all my buyers that I’ll charge them fees for even considering to sell your scissors at a lower price. Why would a buyer take take that chance?
They wouldn’t. They’re trying to make the most money too. So my scissors end up being the only ones sold on a large scale. Some people might try and like your scissors better, getting them directly from you or from smaller specialty shops and such, but on the whole mine are used more. So when other people make special scissor grips or sharpeners or cases, they make them to fit my scissors, not yours.
So mine get even more integrated into the public perception of what scissors really are, and yours are still ignored, never getting the chance to at least compete.
So is Microsoft a better company? Not necessarily. They got to the consumer first, but then they locked the door behind them.
PS: Sorry about the scissors analogy. I think it gets my point across though.