Charlie Seaman wrote:
Harold Fuchs wrote:
A little off topic ....
I unfortunately found this: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=480
Be interested in your thoughts.
Are the negatives pointed out in the article worth the difference in
cost and the long term disadvantages to society as a whole of using
Microsoft products? I don't think so.
Having been an open sourde user since Star Office 5.1 emerged, long
before OO1.0, I have to say the advantages of not being locked into the
upgrade merry-go-round of M$ has been such an enabling experience. I
still have an older version of M$ but it is rarely used and with the
emergence of yet another M$ will likely go the way of my old, and dear
friend, Tandy Scripsit cira 1980. I actually wrote a 250 page user
manual using that 7 page in memory word processor and using features of
the then screaming OS known as LDOS, screaming on a 48k 1.2mhz machine.
I printed the entire manual in one print cycle with many calls. I
will always be thankful that there are so many dedicated developers
putting forth, on their own time, the effort it takes to create the open
source software packages we have been able to enjoy. To compare a free
package to a pay & pay & pay one is about as unfair a comparison as one
can find. For me open source will win every time. Thanks guys for all
your help to everyone & even on behalf of those who need the open source
world just to have something to complain about. IE remained unchanged
for years until Firefox began nipping at its heals. Nothing spurs
development like M$ seeing competition emerging from the forest.
James
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