I found it interesting because they seem to think that the war is between Microsoft Windows and Linux, not between proprietary software and Free and Open Source Software. They rely on issues such as Microsoft making money on Microsoft Office while they can lower the price of Windows. But what happens if OpenOffice eats away at those profits also? And MySQL or Postgres (or even ORACLE and DB2) eat away at Microsoft SQL?
Secondly, they talk about Microsoft's dominance in the world, yet they ignore the fact that there are only 850 million general purpose computers, and 6.3 Billion people, which means that 5.6 Billion people have not selected their operating system yet. (Yes, I know that most of them will never own a computer in their lifetime...but the dropping price of hardware makes this interesting). Thus while Microsoft owns 90% of today's desktop market, they only own 8% of the possible total. Finally, what happens if any of the major world economies (or emerging economies) decides to protect their developing FOSS industry with heavy import duties on Microsoft software? This could change the impact dramatically also. Or if the WTO really comes down on piracy, and makes people in these countries actually start paying for their Microsoft software? I have no doubt that Microsoft will not give up the fight easily, but to say that FOSS will "never" win is like saying (in the 1700's) that heavier than air craft will "never" fly. I found the study (as most studies trying to predict the future) a bit simple and fairly useless. md -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
