[Bug 1] Re: Microsoft has a majority market share

[SneakyWho_am_i]

Ha!

Conrad, you're so right!

I apologize for my ignorance, and for looking past your comments
earlier, you're so right, more has been committed there than what I
thought! If at times Dell has sold Ubuntu-ified systems at higher
prices, that's not ideal but if someone at least is prepared to ship
them, I think that's a really positive step. Of course, new computers
may not be able to install by themselves.

A couple of common themes I see here - you may or may not agree -
interoperability and availability.

But yes, Dell, offering Ubuntu systems, retail stores!! Here in New
Zealand we all get Dell circulars in the post constantly. Amusingly, if
you buy the parts yourself you can easily undercut them ;) (as in easy
to find cheap parts, not easy to file the #$^ paperwork). They all come
with Windows!! I had no idea that somewhere in the world (here also, I
now assume) they're selling Linux boxes.

The point about running a lot of portable (as in cross platform)
applications in Windows by default so that the desktop which users are
inoculated with is reproducible on a free system is also a good one (the
Police).

If we are going to sit on the individual desktop level, then OpenOffice.org and the likes are important of course - a clear advantage lies in the consistent interface.
And Firefox. We all know why so many people use Internet Explorer. I'm a webmaster and want to see the end of it just because it behaves so differently to all the other browsers. I need to write two copies of every page - one clean version and one IE version - important to note here:

II am one of the crazy people who believe that Internet Explorer is deliberately made to be a terrible browser, so that webmasters are forced to waste time and effort coding for the lowest common denominator.
Webmasters make web applications.
If we didn't have to waste so much time, money and effort coding for IE with its bugs and lack of basic decade-old standards support, our web applications could be as responsive and usable as desktop applications. GMail as it is now would be rather average and uninteresting. When all your applications run from your browser, why do you need a fancy operating system at all?

So anyway....
Yeah, manufacturers shipping operating systems I think will increase the retail availability in a far more effective way than converting individuals or Small-Medium-Enterprises. I believe that's how Microsoft did it... So to basically repeat things that Conrad has said, here are some interesting links on the subject:
http://linux.dell.com/
http://www.dell.com/open/
http://www.dell.com/linux

That's pretty cool and I'm very excited to learn about it!!

I understand that it may be difficult for manufacturers to install free software as they lose that advertising revenue in doing so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell#Second_attempt_in_2007

Hewlett Packard is thinking about doing similar:
http://crn.com/hardware/197800591

These may also be notable, sorry for link spam:
http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/
http://lxer.com/module/db/index.php?dbn=14

Can physical retailers be motivated to buy "Linux boxes" from online
vendors? Ultimately that can mean creating a generation of users who
have never even touched Windows... Which could result in more code being
written, more commits in Launchpad, more user-contributed
documentation..?? (but for the law of diminishing returns and all that)

I haven't read even this whole thread, let alone tried to read up on the
marketing strategy in these parts, but in my simple mind, moving from
the top down (manufacturer) is cool.  I reckon that subtle infiltration
of "plug and play" supply will lead to the exposure that creates demand.

I tried to talk to an American friend today on the internet and she asked:
"
(17:39:18) username: yes but whats ubuntu?
"

:) I sometimes wouldn't mind seeing:
"
username2: yes but whats windows?
"

Also a typo in my last comment (a big one), I meant to say that it's NOT
for everyone, but IS for me.



I love free software. I create very humble scripts in php and suchlike myself, and some of my work is decidedly NOT free. I agree, people should be able to charge whatever they want to sell their hard work.
But I don't have the money to pay for that sort of thing.
Software like Ubuntu allows me to own a computer without breaking the law daily to use it (not that I could be forced to break the law, it's a person's own choice to break the law when they do so).


Help fix intellectual property issues and piracy, ESPECIALLY Windows. Help developers to get whatever is specified in the software license. Everyone seems to think that software piracy can be OK if you don't get caught, or can't afford it. It's not. Microsoft's developers ask payment for use of their software and have every right to it. our friends will look at you like you're crazy if you try to get them to remove the illegal software but theft is theft...... I'm sure that none of us would like to have others stealing our work, so  everyone including Microsoft benefits if software piracy becomes socially unacceptable - just speculation.
I wonder if the acceptability of software piracy is due in part to the villainization of software monopolies and record companies??

:) I should shut up now.
Thanks again for the info Conrad. This is hard for me to type but I suspect that my next new computer might be a Dell ;)

-- 
Microsoft has a majority market share
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