Ian Kelly wrote:
> The desktop
> is all that is left... and that is dying... rapidly. Their lockin is well
> entrenched (like Borg implants ) but the number of mom& pops ( like my
> entire extended family, for instance) who are moving to Ubuntu (themselves)
> is astounding! It will not be long and Microsoft will die... and none too
> soon.
So what is that number? Anecdotes are unreliable; I would like to see
the actual data. The only non-techie I personally know who uses Linux
is my wife, and she only uses it because it's what's installed at
home. My brother-in-law was a Linux fan at one time but has
regressed.
This is very difficult... and I'm not dodging the ball here... its
just the truth. The 'market share' data are bogus. Reason? ... because
the free software 'market' is not a market. It is not measured in any
way, and it is almost impossible to determine therefore in any accurate
fashion. There really are no data... what we need here is a census of sorts.
Here is an anecdote for you... our tax prep this year was done
on-line via Firefox. We use software through a large and well-known tax
company which for this purpose supports *only* Firefox 3.6 or higher...
go figure. Is not that interesting..? I know, just an anecdote.
Here is another anecdote for you.... the university is supporting
*only* Firefox for Moodle and Blackboard usage... very interesting.
Well, since most students are carrying a Mac Book, and the rest are
running Ubuntu, they really cannot support *only* IE can they? They are
supporting one browser, and Firefox got the job. I know, just an anecdote.
IE is dead. It is flat dead... almost nobody is using it...
The market data are worthless in this discussion, because free
software and free software platforms are not measured in the 'market'.
Please allow me one more anecdote... I have purchased several machines
over the last ten years... all of them preloaded with Windows
(something) and all of them running IE (something). NONE of those
machines ever saw the light of day as "Windows" machines. I purchased
the hardware *only* recovered my cost on the M$ license, and quickly
loaded my linux system of choice... and I've used them all, believe me.
The point here is that the 'market' data would show that my
machines were purchased, installed, and running... activated even. But
the truth is that *Best Buy* activated them, not me, and Microsoft is
claiming that I am using their popular operating system (which I'm not)
and the market data shows Microsoft doing so well in the Desktop market.
The truth is something quite different. I am not and have not used
Microsoft products for over 12 years now. (not at all) And, all of my
systems today are running *only* free software (not even kernels with
'blobs' in them). I use only free (as in freedom) software on all of my
systems (Desk and server) as does my *entire* family (well, I influenced
them, of course).
I read in the blogs today that Microsoft is now claiming that
Windows 7 has 39% market share... SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM I don't
like SPAM ! ... just eggs and ham... Give me a break !!! I don't
even know one person who has Win7 installed, running, and likes it...
not even one. Where is all this 39% market share...?? Probably the
numbers from *Best Buy* on preloads... that get reloaded... or
corporations that buy bulk preloads, and then reload their images over
the top...
<sigh>
kind regards,
m harris
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