On Saturday 07 January 2012 05:05 PM, kenneth gonsalves wrote: > On Sat, 2012-01-07 at 13:11 +0530, Yogesh Girikumar wrote: >> 2012/1/6 JAGANADH G <[email protected]>: > > simple question - how much does that fancy office cost? is it still > appealing when you dip into your pocket to pay for it (especially the > professional version that you love?)
Ok, wrong terminology, 'normal user' is not the word that I intended. What I meant was people who use Windows just to use MS Office. And the cost of MS office that most of my friends use is about Rs. 50 (inclusive of the cost of CD and CD burning charges ;) For serious users who do not want to pirate, like companies and enterprises, the prices don't seem to matter much. Even for Linux, they'll be willing to spend about the same amount to BUY MS office for Linux. I can't speak for myself because I am, and have been a Linux user for a few years now and I've been quite comfortable using FOSS applications. Believe me when I say, it's a myth that people go for FOSS because it's 'free of cost'. Most people I know, are using Linux for it's obvious technical advantages, some for the freedom and the rest for pure fun. The few that are running MS Windows are refusing to switch to Linux because of two reasons, GAMES and MS Office. I can show them cool games for Linux like 0AD, etc. But if it so happens that MS office is available for Linux as well, I'm positive there'll be atleast a few hundred machines switching to Linux in my home town. You can simply not speak about software freedom and philosophies of free software to them. 'Virus free' is the ONLY part they like about it. -- Y _______________________________________________ ILUGC Mailing List: http://www.ae.iitm.ac.in/mailman/listinfo/ilugc
