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Linux: it's now or never! (partie III)



                                 For sure, M$ is now investing big money in the
                                 public librairies system in Canada, just as in the US.
                                 See:
                                 http://www.ledevoir.com/liv/1999a/gate010499.html
                                 (French text.)
                                 In Canada, the federal and provincial governments
                                 rely almost exclusively on M$ software. Quebec
                                 Liquor Board, amongst others, has switched from
                                 OS2 to NT. 

                                 Every day an immense installfest goes on for M$: all
                                 over the world, thousands of new cheap internet
                                 computers are sold or given away with a subscrition
                                 to internet services with only Windows on board. 

                                 McGill University, where Gopher was born, now
                                 gives its first courses on NT. This way, I was told,
                                 students get to learn something they can use in their
                                 everyday life.

                                 Etc.

                                 Of course, when someone like me makes a follow-up
                                 on Linux's success stories and takes a peek at M$
                                 little exponential leaps in the real non-linux world,
                                 he's necessarily qualified as a M$ sycophant. People
                                 prefer evangelist Eric Raymond's Cathedral of the
                                 Bizarre gospel. 

                                 Though I wouldn't mind getting my economic and
                                 politic vision of the networked society from a
                                 programmer, it just so happens that the most down
                                 to earth paper I've read so far is by economist
                                 Nathan Newman, who was a doctorate Berkely
                                 student at the time of the writing.
                                 See: From MSWord to MSWorld: How Microsoft is
                                 Building a Global Monopoly
                                 http://www.netaction.org/msoft/world/

                                 No bright new concept here, no scholarly erudition,
                                 just plain talk, the real M$ story. And what you learn
                                 mainly, is that when M$ can't beat the enemy in a
                                 face to face confrontation, as is the case for Linux, it
                                 undermines its defences.

                                 As Linux is beginning to nibble away at the servers'
                                 market, Gates and Allen are still enlarging their
                                 users base and selling a hell of a lot of shares to get
                                 a large number of investors interested in M$ future.
                                 They invest the money in technologies (satellites,
                                 cables, databases) that might very well end up being
                                 just a little bit more M$ friendly than Linux friendly.
                                 We're not only talking about "Frontpage extensions"
                                 here... and look at the success they had with this
                                 silly thing!

                                 For now, with its "750 million users in five years"
                                 (Raymond, a very conservative man, scaled down
                                 his estimate from 830 millions) Linux is doing great...
                                 while being M$' single greatest ally in its struggle
                                 against the DoJ. (One can only wonder and ponder
                                 at the miraculous coincidence of this... impending
                                 rise of Linux!)

                                 But when DoJ trial ends, Windows 2000 will be out.
                                 Or rather, Windows 2000 will be out when DoJ trial
                                 ends. ; ) For a while, it might be exempt from certain
                                 "security breaches" that send user information back
                                 to M$ and of back doors that allow M$ technicians to
                                 peek at a system. (Who knows, it might even crash a
                                 wee bit less ;-)
                                 If Linux is not really more user friendly or, I'd say,
                                 "user comprehensible" (in the sense that a nice
                                 graphical interface just won't do), it will be the
                                 beginning of the end.

                                 >Reinier Post (satisfied SuSE 6.1 user)

                                 When I was in Holland, the administrator of the
                                 "Vliegen Bos" near Amsterdam liked to take me
                                 apart -- probably because I was more of his age than
                                 the rest of the campers -- to teach me about the
                                 common sense of the Dutch people (without
                                 exception, of course). It went from not wasting
                                 expensive and scarce police respourses on
                                 enforcing laws on marijuana, to living near one's
                                 work and using a bicycle to get to it... and, of course,
                                 the obligation to keep the key in the back wheel's
                                 lock when you rode (so it couldn't get lost, at least
                                 during the ride : )

                                 I really hope he was right and that, as an
                                 experienced Linux user, you'll put some energy in
                                 making Linux more "user comprehensible" NOW. As
                                 you know, not much ever happens in the way of
                                 mobilisation during summer, and next September, it
                                 might be too late. It's now or never.

                                 GP