Selling Linux to Windows Users

[Mark Haney]

bqz69 wrote:
> Windows has to sharpen themselves, in order to compete with linux with 
> more than some 20.000 programmer, and which cost nothing - quite an 
> argument???
>> ot down by using different versions of MS software. That
>> is a bit unfair, sort of a two brothers vs one type of fight.
>>
>>   
> 
> 

No, this isn't much of an argument.  MS has (IIRC) about 5,000 
programmers.  Granted they ALL aren't working on the Windows OS code 
base, but I'm sure a large percentage know the API inside and out 
regardless.

Windows problem (now, anyway) and potentially linux's problem in the 
future is code bloat.  The Windows OS (and I group them all together for 
ease of argument) has a MASSIVE codebase.  I forget how many lines, but 
it's significant.  But, the /problem/ with that isn't the size of the 
code base, it's the fact that there is still Win95 code sitting in the 
OS, and it's wreaking havoc with newer technologies.  (That's a VERY 
simple example.)

The other problem is Microsoft's desire to make /everything/ 
interoperable with everything else.  It creates this massive cascade 
effect when one piece fails it makes all the other interdependent pieces 
unstable.

What I've said for 10 years now is the MS needs to scrap the existing 
code and start over.  Make it mean and lean.  And stable. 
Unfortunately, that also means killing backward compatibility, which 
they will NOT do.  It's too big a gamble to them.

The linux world, on the other hand, with it's 'do one thing, but do it 
right' mentality WRT it's tools, doesn't have the same scenario facing 
it.  Python 3 was released recently which breaks everything previous, 
but that doesn't render EVERYTHING broken immediately.  The migration 
can be at a much more measured pace.

I personally have become wary of software makers who try to 'be 
everything to everybody' with their products. (McAfee and Symantec come 
to mind along with MS.)  Being a jack of all trades means you never get 
EVERYTHING great, just marginal, and marginal is not satisfactory anymore.


-- 
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Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
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