On Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 3:52 PM, kenneth gonsalves <[email protected]>wrote: > > in my opinion, this is totally wrong. Any user is comfortable with what > he is using and reluctant to shift. This is human nature. When one buys > a machine, one automatically gets windows. So one uses it and gets used > to it. There is no knowledge of alternatives. It is not like buying a > bike or a mixie where there is a huge range of choice - and every choice > heavily advertised. I bought a laptop last week. It came with linpus > linux - I had to demand it and when it came I had to fight with the > dealer to prevent him for putting an 'operating system' and a lot of > what you call 'feature rich and easy to use software' for the cost of a > mere 450 rupees. So reason no 1 for people using windows is that that is > what they get - and never know anything else. So why do some people > replace IE with firefox or chrome or opera? The main reason is that they > get to know about them because they are heavily advertised and promoted, > are easy to install on windows - and also are good. That way firefox has > reached critical mass. Even dealers install it at times. > > > > Its not lack of knowledge of FOSS which is helping MS, but > > non-availability of equally good, ready to use and feature rich > > alternatives." > > sorry - it is lack of knowledge and exposure created in the main by a > sustained campaign by MS to keep people ignorant and prevent them from > learning about alternatives. >
Yes, this is true and agree on that. But there are even situations where one is aware of FOSS alternatives but still goes with paid stuff because they can't fulfill his requirements. Gamers are the biggest example of this. As most of the computer games are released for windows, pro gamers will use windows because their main requirement is the game and not the operating system. And there are so many gamers!! I know companies don't build linux games because there are not many linux gamers, and the linux gamers won't increase as long as we don't have goodlinux games. Deadlock :) > I'm a FOSS supporter and try to use them as much as i can. But i do > > use proprietary software if FOSS alternatives are not good enough for > > my requirement. > > could you mention these? If you do, maybe we can help you to migrate. > Well, as i have been working as a freelancer web developer/designer, i do need to have the paid image manipulation and vector drawing tools like photoshop, illustrator etc. Not because i design on them, but because i get designs generally in these formats and to open them i must have the softwares. The FOSS alternatives like Gimp, Inkscape etc can't open the complete designs correctly. And asking clients to use FOSS design tools would be a stupid thing. Also i tried moving to linux as my main OS but could not continue for long because i keep travelling and most of the time don't have internet access. Installing and fixing stuff on linux without internet becomes difficult, and even landed me into troubles at times. Regards, Gautam Chaudhary http://gautamchaudhary.com -- Mailing list guidelines and other related articles: http://lug-iitd.org/Footer
