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Linux: it's now or never! (partie III)
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- Subject: Linux: it's now or never! (partie III)
- From: Gilles Pelletier <>
- Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 23:00:37 -0400
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