Re: Linux users who like Windows

[Steven Oppenheimer <writer -at- writemaster -dot- com>]

I haven't used Linux yet, but there is a fourth reason why Linux is of 
interest to me, in addition to the three given by Bruce below.  And I think 
this same reason will apply to other users as well, and hopefully to major 
corporations in the near future.

Say someone owns three computers (home office, laptop, and a computer at a 
family home out of state).  Up until Windows 98, a user might have no 
compunction about installing one copy of Windows on all three computers, 
licensing agreements be damned.  The computers are used by one owner, and 
only that owner, and it is ridiculous that he or she should pay for three 
copies of the operating system for one user.  Same for MS Office, and MS 
Developer Studio that is used for programming.  Now, with the registration 
feature, Bill Gates virtually locks us into paying for three copies of his 
software, one for each computer.  That's a huge outlay of money for an 
individual, and it is for a corporation as well.

I don't go out and buy software and pass it around to twenty people.  But 
if I have two or three computers, and I am the exclusive user (or even the 
prime user), there is no reason not to have one copy of the software PER 
USER rather than PER MACHINE.

Gates, Balmer & Co., have a legitimate stake in preventing endless piracy 
of their software.  If the software allowed up to, say, 15 "no questions 
asked" installs per license, I would think that was fair.  That would 
allow, say, for an install on three machines;  and on each machine it would 
allow for four additional installs, taking into account changes of hardware 
in the machine, software conflicts or viruses that crash the machine, 
etc.  But 2 -- count 'em 2 installs - per license.  It's ridiculous.  As if 
Bill Gates could only afford to buy about eight aircraft carriers, that's 
how much wealth he has, instead he needs nine or ten.

I think (hope!?) that corporations are going to get wise, and start making 
Linux their primary operating system.  When that happens, applications like 
Quicken and FrameMaker and RoboHelp will quickly port to Linux, we'll all 
move over the Star Office, and then Microsoft might reconsider their policies.


Steve Oppenheimer
Technical & Marketing Writing
writer -at- writemaster -dot- com
www.writemaster.com

From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
The majority of Linux users fall into one of several camps.  The first camp 
is the free software advocates, who are against any proprietary software 
and won't use it, no matter whether the
manufacturer is Microsoft, Adobe, or anyone else.This group is probably the 
smallest of the three.

The second camp is the open source advocates.This group uses Linux because 
of its stability, and the belief that open source software is of higher 
quality, has fewer bugs,and develops quicker than proprietary software. 
This group may use proprietary software if no other tool is available. For 
example, Linus Torvalds, for whom Linux is named, insists on using a piece 
of proprietary software for kernel development (and has come under attack 
for it).

The third camp consists of people who simply want to try something new. 
This group has no strong feelings about Windows or any other proprietary 
software one way or the other. This group is probably the largest of the 
three, although the second is probably a close second.

I've listed these groups in order of their acceptence of proprietary 
software in general and of Microsoft in particular. However, even the free 
software advocates don't spend a lot of time thinking about
Windows. For many of them, Windows is mostly irrelevant. They may worry 
about some of Microsoft's manoeuvers in the marketplace, and the second and 
third group may keep Windows around to run an occasional program, but 
that's about it.



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