Darn, I guess more clarification...but last one > To be fair MS does not come out with new versions of their desktops with > sweet new features and sweet new looks every 6 months or so like the KDE > and Gnome projects do.
Agreed, but I never claimed they did > When they do come out with a new desktop you have > to pay good money only to find out that it is the same desktop, only > they have rearranged all the features to you have to find everything > again. In fact between 1995 and 2000 they didn't make any major changes > to the desktop. They also don't feed you great new software through Windows > update like your describing. They feed to updates and a few crappy programs > that push their agenda for proprietary windows media files, and .NET. Agreed, mostly.... Windows 2.0 to 2.2, little GUI changes, Windows 2.2 to Windows 386, little GUI changes Windows 2.x to Windows 3.0, medium gui changes, revolution begins Windows 3.0 to Windows 95, major GUI changes revolution continues Windows 95 to Windows 2000, little GUI changes revolution slows Windows 2000 to Windows XP, major GUI changes, revolution halting?? Quickly thrown together so may not be 100% accurate, based on rusty personal memories. Regarding what comes out of their update program I agree. Nothing interesting or revolutionary going on here. Actually, like Win2k SP3 and Media Player 8, more underhanded draconian practices if hiding various digitial rights management, pirating control and EULA changes in what looks like a patch or new cd player. > I also don't think their products are easy to use either, Personal opinion that would not necessarily match with the experiences of "most" new users of computers. An even better way to have said this, on my part, was that Windows is "familiar" to most users in one way or another and this "familiarity" helps to get them using their systems for what they want to do. Maybe with the exception of XP...those GUI changes appear to have been made by the "Brain-Dead Group" at MS ....what were they thinking? > and they certainly didn't invent any of their user friendly features, Apple did. Never claimed that Microsoft "invented" user-friendly software or the GUI as a form of "Human Computer Interaction" (HCI). My mistake for not being clear. I should have said.... "Microsoft has played a significant, if not major role, in pushing out relatively easy to use computer systems with bundled software to the general public, through aggressive and intelligent marketing and OEM agreements which began as fairly mutually beneficial agreements between MS and VAR's, but which later turned into restrictive and punitive contracts which created an atmosphere of limited options for consumers and VAR's alike" "Popular" GUI development (which gets taken up by the masses), as far as I can recall went something like this.... MIT -> Stanford Research Lab -> Xerox PARC -> Apple -> Windows ->>>>>>>>....KDE/GNOME?? > People don't use Windows because it's easy, they use it because everyone > else uses it and they don't think they have a choice. Agree mostly. And for first time buyers even knowning there is a choice, Windows , Mac or Linux, doesnt necessarily mean they will choose something over Windows. Since most people have heard of Windows and are more likely to know someone else with Windows, and it is already installed on most systems, then this "Familiarity" and "Largest Market Share" combined with getting (almost) everything they need just by picking up a new system from Future Shop, then the choice is pretty much a no-brainer for them. And arguing solely on technical merits is unlikely to have the desired effect...remember Beta vs VHF? Consumer behavior is very much like a bunch of cattle....or "herd" or "mob" as Nietzsche would say in a condescending manner towards those masses conforming to tradition. Not sure of he used this, but I also like 'Opium of the Masses". Wave a large enough flag, or salt block, in one corner of a field of cattle and soon you will have 1, 2, 4, 8 .....cows coming to check it out. And please, no flames from any farmers out there who will say that cows are too stupid to simply "see" a salt block and come running...yes they do have to be "conditioned" to this.....Pavlovian style. Much like our Windows-Purchasing public.... And as Friedrich Nietzsche once said... "One must shed the bad taste of wanting to agree with many. "Good" is no longer good when one's neighbor mouths it. And how should there be a "common good"! The term contradicts itself; whatever can be common always has little value" (Beyond Good & Evil). I particularly like this part...."...whatever can be common always has little value". And a re-written version could go something like this.. "One must shed the bad taste of wanting to agree with Microsoft. "Good" is no longer good when one's neighbor mouths it. And how should there be a "common good"! The term contradicts itself; whatever can be Microsoft always has little value" ...heheh I think that Nietzsche would have been a Linux or Mac user.... So, what can possibly change this for the new user and our "conditioned" pulic? At least some of these I would think.. 1: More VAR's offering bundled systems geared for the newbie and sold in the big electronics stores, Staples, Future Shop etc. 2: More education of the benefits of Linux/OSS through media, Install Fests, word-of-mouth (show your Windows buddies what you get with a new Linux install...whatever distro). 3: Schools and other Educational institutions deploying, encouraging and supporting LInux and OSS. 4: Keep giving away those Knoppix/Clugoppix (spelling?) CD's.....carry them around, hand them out!!! 5: If your working in an IT department, continue to encourage Linux/OSS use and whenever possible, slide in a Linux or open-source solution and only after its been up and transparent for some time, let your mgrs know how you fixed/addressed an IT issue with Linux/OSS software. 6: Avoid trying to (seriously) argue for the benefits of Linux and OSS by denegrating, attacking, insulting, discounting or minimizing Microsoft. This is the <b>MOST DAMAGING</b> to Linux/OSS credibility and once you have made this impression on someone, forget about being taken seriously. This was fun......better over beer though Cheers <hr> <b><font color=blue size=4>Open Enterprise Solutions</font></b> <b><font color=red>Linux & Open Source Solutions for Business</font></b> Johnny Stork, BA Calgary, AB Canada <a href="http://www.openenterprise.ca";> www.openenterprise.ca</a> --------------------------------------------------- The Webtop Personal Web-based Email System http://www.yourwebtop.com
