It is just a matter of time

Asus has stated that one of their most successful products of all time is their new Linux laptop their ASUS Eee PC Notebook. Walmart has the new $199.00 PC that runs the G-OS (LINUX). MS cant compete on this low end. Once people learn that Linux works better than Windows and Costs less there will be no stopping Linux. People who buy entry level machines running Linux will move up and when they do they will be likely to stay with Linux. It will take a long time to get a big chunk of the MS pie but it is inevitable. 
This is one of the reasons MS want to be big in search and this is why they want to buy Yahoo. They are scared.  
Most of what people really want to do is through the browser so having an OS from MS is not necessary anymore.

http://www.computerpro.bz/os

Guest

Empire

Microsoft truly is "The Evil Empire". When Linux gains a large enough share of the server and desktop market to become a real monetary threat to them, I predict that you will see some REAL erratic behavior.

http://oldsawdude.home.insightbb.com/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

Guest

Empire

First, let's be clear about one thing: MicroSoft is NOT in business to make software and they never really were. They are in business to make money. Software is just the vehicle they drive to the bank. 
Now, there's nothing wrong with Capitalism - if you make a good quality product that keeps your customers happy, you will make money. Heck, you might even make a LOT of money ~ Good for you.  
This doesn't become a problem until you begin to measure your success at your bottom-line instead of your level of customer satisfaction, which is a lesson that MicroSoft should have learned around '98, even if they *were* the only OS available at the time. Unfortunately, their concern for their bottom line caused them to shift their focus from producing better software, into the frequently delusive paradigm of increasing sales through aggressive marketing and proprietary extensions. This is the easy way to make lots of money - the Tobacco industry and Crack Dealers do it all the time. This is delusive not only to MicroSoft customers, but to MicroSoft as well, since they now identify their Profit as their end product, while their OS rots away on it's death bed of failing customer support. They have no other choice than to seek additional revenue streams, but this will not be enough for them to continue with their "Business-as-Usual" attitude. 
MicroSoft lovers can contend and cajole all they want, but please consider one simple fact - With little more in the way of marketing than Word-of-mouth, Linux is on the mind of almost EVERY computer user in the world - Even those who have never touched a computer before - and MicroSoft spends MILLIONS of dollars fighting against it. They are waging a campaign against a growing opposition who has an endless supply of free ammunition, and the end result is imminent. 
To paraphrase a famous quote from some well known source: 
"meinie, meinie, tekal uparsin" 
The days of your empire are numbered. 
You have been weighed on the scales of value, and have been found insufficient. 
Your kingdom will crumble, and be divided amongst the stockholders and Independent Software Vendors. 
 
All the FOSS community needs to do is be patient, and stand clear until the dust settles.

Guest

All about FUD

First, let's be clear about one thing: MicroSoft is NOT in business to make software and they never really were. They are in business to make money. Software is just the vehicle they drive to the bank. 
Now, there's nothing wrong with Capitalism - if you make a good quality product that keeps your customers happy, you will make money. Heck, you might even make a LOT of money ~ Good for you.  
This doesn't become a problem until you begin to measure your success at your bottom-line instead of your level of customer satisfaction, which is a lesson that MicroSoft should have learned around '98, even if they *were* the only OS available at the time. Unfortunately, their concern for their bottom line caused them to shift their focus from producing better software, into the frequently delusive paradigm of increasing sales through aggressive marketing and proprietary extensions. This is the easy way to make lots of money - the Tobacco industry and Crack Dealers do it all the time. This is delusive not only to MicroSoft customers, but to MicroSoft as well, since they now identify their Profit as their end product, while their OS rots away on it's death bed of failing customer support. They have no other choice than to seek additional revenue streams, but this will not be enough for them to continue with their "Business-as-Usual" attitude. 
MicroSoft lovers can contend and cajole all they want, but please consider one simple fact - With little more in the way of marketing than Word-of-mouth, Linux is on the mind of almost EVERY computer user in the world - Even those who have never touched a computer before - and MicroSoft spends MILLIONS of dollars fighting against it. They are waging a campaign against a growing opposition who has an endless supply of free ammunition, and the end result is imminent. 
To paraphrase a famous quote from some well known source: 
"meinie, meinie, tekal uparsin" 
The days of your empire are numbered. 
You have been weighed on the scales of value, and have been found insufficient. 
Your kingdom will crumble, and be divided amongst the stockholders and Independent Software Vendors. 
 
All the FOSS community needs to do is be patient, and stand clear until the dust settles.

Guest

All about FUD

My thoughts are basically "you've got to be kidding me". For one thing, you can't compare a single operating system (Windows) to a huge group of very different distros (Linux) with any authority. MicroSoft is a sinking ship, and we're all better off not letting them take us down with it.

http://htt://freesite.iblogger.org

Guest

Business as usual

It's common for businesses to make comparisons between their own products and those of their competitors. (Naturally, showing their own in a good light, however true that may be). 
 
It is the role of the consumer to check the sources: If you see a statement that Product A is "better" Product B, check out who's saying it, and what relationships they have with the makers of Product A and Product B. 
 
If Microsoft make unsubstantiated claims about Windows vs Linux, that's pretty innocuous. They're paying money to put something out there which isn't going to get them much credibility. 
 
Look into the Mindcraft survey in 1999 (eg: http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/04/27/mindcraft/) - that would have been much more compelling, if it hadn't turned out that Microsoft had commissioned Mindcraft to produce the "independent" survey.

http://steve-parker.org/

Guest

Publicity

Your absolutely correct. But, you know what they say, all publicity is good publicity. Microsoft has been purposely ignoring linux up to this point because of fear of putting the \"L-word\" out in the public. I\'m betting that Linux will only benefit from this. Its too bad for Microsoft that anyone who knows how to maintain a server probably knows the difference. Haha, stupid micro$oft.

http://www.casper911ca.com

Guest

Owner,K B Logistics,LLC

I run a small trucking company and am always looking for ways to reduce overhead.I run Vector Linux on my home desktop Computer and Ubuntu 7.10 on the laptop I use in one of the trucks. I am reletively new to the linux arena but I find that the ease of use and low downtime have made significant improvements on my bottom line.

Guest

Scarecrow and strawman arguments

I think that all of us can blame our reading skills and our tenacity to be easily distracted for this kind of fud. 
 
"Windows xxxx is more secure ..." leading to a link that says "Windows xxxx is the most secure ever" is an unsubstantiated fallacy. Microsoft thinks that you are stupid and hopes to capitalize on your abbreviated attention span. Just like commercials that you remember from the '80's. 
 
Microsoft propaganda plants key words in your head in the order that they hope that you associate them in the future. 
 
The fact remains, when you have to make a decision, its usually because some guy wearing more hair gel than Robert Smith is barking at you and demanding one. Microsoft hopes that 'fight or flight' will hit you with a stupid stick causing you to choose them, because of how they structured their documents.  
 
To anyone reading this, just search for "Botnets Microsoft" to understand the real security implications, ignore the fallacy, do your own research and make an informed decision.

http://echoreply.us/tech/

Guest

Scarecrow and strawman arguments

Microwhat needs to be scared. If geeks like me learn how to properly implement Linux then microblitz is bankrupt. Imagine if everybody could afford a computer because the operating system was free or open source. Businesses could run software that rarely breaks. Bill has made his money and is pretty much gone. Microsoft must fear everything and everyone because it\'s at the infancy of it\'s death....but time marches on and freedom never rests. God bless Linus.

Guest