Kevin Trotter Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 I saw an interesting film on IFC (That's the Independent Film Channel for the dish impaired) Called Revolutionary OS, it was about the battle between Proprietary software designers and the free software designers. Very good film with interveiws and the history of the development of Linux, Gnu etc.. As a computer semi literate I learned a lot about how these OS's work as well as why Microsofts tech support sucks so badly. (IMO)It doesn't exactly demonize Bill Gates but it didi an adequate job explaining his " contribution" to the free software movement. I recommend this film to anyone interested in how this industry evolved Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkling Posted May 13, 2003 Report Share Posted May 13, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Race Bannon IV: why Microsofts tech support sucks so badly. I don't beleive that Linux will ever REALLY be able to challenge MS and the reason is very simple. Most people are not very bright, especially when it comes to computers and while people like us can appreciate all that Linux has to offer, the truth is that if you gave it to Grandma or Uncle Bob, they wouldn't know what to do with it. So they NEED the dumbed down interface and if MS tech support is so very bad, how bad is tech support going to be from Free software? If I'm not making money off it, why in the world would I support it? Yes you can get support from Red Hat, but you best beleive they will charge you for it! And the truth is, that they are used to dealing with Tech Heads like me, not people like Uncle Bob and Gradma. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Trotter Posted May 14, 2003 Author Report Share Posted May 14, 2003 I'm certainly no expert but the rationale is that if the software is free, the only way developers make money is to charge for tech support of those products. That is what the developers of GNU and those geniuses at Red Hat were trying to explain in the film.I f your only source of income is tech support my guess is they would have to provide it in a manner that induced people to spend money on it. SC, do you know anything about this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cmdr Nova Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 Yes. And another reason why Microsoft won't fall to Linux and the like is because of ease of use. Sure I'm a techy. But I don't have the time to set it up. And then, there's the lack of apps and compatibility and games and crap I use daily for Linux. Which would be another forever and a day that'd take me to fix the OS and such. If it involves gaming or generalized day to day use, let me have Windows. If it only involves office work and media applications like Photoshop, I'd love to use a Mac. (I've always wanted one for a "work" environment PC.) If it's about advanced web work, programming, and stuff I don't do anymore, then sure--Linux would be fine. But yeah. To me, that'd only appeal to about 5% of computer users anyway, if even that high. And that little talk about how proprietary software isn't as safe as open source things doesn't necessarily prove true. Even though everyone has the opportunity to check for little loopholes, since you have the possibility of learning EVERYTHING about it, there's always going to be one person who knows in. If we built the safes at our Federal Reserve Banks off of blueprints that were public knowledge, I don't think that'd work right. I got into a nasty argument the other day, trying to defend the open-source thing, while some completely valid points were brought up. IMO, as long as a company's doing somewhat decently with their security and their programming, there doesn't need to be an "open source" watchdogging of the software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Grayfox Posted May 15, 2003 Report Share Posted May 15, 2003 quote:the truth is that if you gave it to Grandma or Uncle Bob, they wouldn't know what to do with it exactly. im still trying to teach fred flinstone (AKA my father) how to use a PC. quote:But I don't have the time to set it up you never have time to set anything up... why should this be different j/k to me, if the market was a little more even and not as heavily MS biased, then i would go with linux only due to the fact that i can tell my arse from a hole in the ground as well as i can tell the difference between a cup holder and a cd rom drive besides being an above semi literate techie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkling Posted May 16, 2003 Report Share Posted May 16, 2003 quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: Yes. And another reason why Microsoft won't fall to Linux and the like is because of ease of use.I know exactly what you mean, it's a LOT of very small things that add up to a heck of a lot. Example, I setup everyone at my office with Roaming Profiles. One of my sales guys computers went dead, so I simply pulled one that wasn't being used in Customer Service, and plugged it in. Boom!, his roaming profile reloaded his Desktop, His Faxnow Interface, His shortcuts to his sales tracking spreadsheets, everything, it's like he had the same computer. If it was a Linux box, first of all, most of the programs that we use, wouldn't work on it and second, Linux doesn't have things like Roaming Profiles. Even if there were Linux versions of these programs, I would still have had to reload everything to match his old settings. MS, just makes things easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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