Views of K Thomson

[Malcolm McLean]

In message <[email protected]


I can't see how.  It is a joke and no one takes it seriously except some
Open source Religious nutters and no one takes them seriously.

Microsoft sells Office on the basis that companies and large
organisations like compatability. It's easy to get a secretary who
knows Word.

Individuals also do trivial bits of wordprocessing for letters, and
they might play about with a spreadsheet for their stamp collection.
However they don't use the packages intensively enough for it to be
worth buying them.
In the past what happened was that organisations bought legitimate
copies, whilst there was a raft of illegal copies owned by
individuals. That raft has now been squeezed, partly by anti-piracy
measures, partly by Open Office. Why do something illegal if you can
get the same functionality for free?

However what it means is that individuals can't so easily transfer
Word files to their home machines. Suddenly Microsoft isn't the
standard any more. Companies are beginning to realise that not only
can they save the cost of the licences, they've also got a pool of
skill and familiarity with Open office to draw upon. At the moment
most still use Microsoft, but the monopoly isn't what it used to be.

 

[Chris H]

In message <[email protected]

Microsoft sells Office on the basis that companies and large
organisations like compatability. It's easy to get a secretary who
knows Word.

Individuals also do trivial bits of wordprocessing for letters, and
they might play about with a spreadsheet for their stamp collection.
However they don't use the packages intensively enough for it to be
worth buying them.
In the past what happened was that organisations bought legitimate
copies, whilst there was a raft of illegal copies owned by
individuals. That raft has now been squeezed, partly by anti-piracy
measures, partly by Open Office. Why do something illegal if you can
get the same functionality for free?

However what it means is that individuals can't so easily transfer
Word files to their home machines. Suddenly Microsoft isn't the
standard any more. Companies are beginning to realise that not only
can they save the cost of the licences, they've also got a pool of
skill and familiarity with Open office to draw upon. At the moment
most still use Microsoft, but the monopoly isn't what it used to be.

Thank you for proving my point above.

 

[gwowen]

I swear to God you two are the most childish, immature assholes I've
ever dealt with either online or IRL.  Nudds and Nilges have the
excuse of being legitimately nuts, but you two are just fucking
annoying.  I pity your coworkers; you must be *joys* to interact
with.

He's not like that in real life; internet tough guys are ineviatably
hopelessly inadequate when dealing with real people, and unable to
hide between pseudonyms. Internet anonymity gives him the protection
to act out in public, where he can create his "Catfish" fantasy life
in which his multiple sock puppets are constantly validating and
agreeing with him.

Don't feed the troll, you're just facilitating.

 

[Seebs]

In message <[email protected]

I can't see how. It is a joke and no one takes it seriously except some
Open source Religious nutters and no one takes them seriously.

I dunno, I do embedded Linux for a living, and we sure seem to have
plenty of customers. I recall seeing somewhere that use of Linux in
TVs went from 0% to about 5% and then to about 85% in the last few years.

Not a big market for Microsoft maybe, but I wouldn't dismiss it as a "joke".

-s

 

[Seebs]

However what it means is that individuals can't so easily transfer
Word files to their home machines. Suddenly Microsoft isn't the
standard any more. Companies are beginning to realise that not only
can they save the cost of the licences, they've also got a pool of
skill and familiarity with Open office to draw upon. At the moment
most still use Microsoft, but the monopoly isn't what it used to be.

I know someone who works at a Big Company. A few years back, they decided
to try an experiment. Instead of shipping MS Office on every machine, they
put Open Office on every machine. If you ask for MS Office, IT will give
you a copy.

Net result: Microsoft's market share at that company went from 100% to
about 10%. Most users never noticed the difference, or cared.

-s

 

[Keith Thompson]

[...]

As a personal favor to me, if you want to discuss open source and/or
free software and how it is or isn't affecting Microsoft, or anything
else for that matter, please change the subject header to something
appropriate, or start a new thread, or take it to another newsgroup.
I'm getting really tired of seeing "Views of K Thomson" in the list
of articles.

Thanks.

 

[Chris H]

I dunno, I do embedded Linux for a living, and we sure seem to have
plenty of customers. I recall seeing somewhere that use of Linux in
TVs went from 0% to about 5% and then to about 85% in the last few years.

Not a big market for Microsoft maybe, but I wouldn't dismiss it as a "joke".

Sorry I meant the poster is a joke and the only people to get wound up
about it are the FOSS Religious types.

As for how much damage it is doing to MS... estimate vary but the
trouble is none of them seem independent.

 

[Chris H]

[...]

As a personal favor to me, if you want to discuss open source and/or
free software and how it is or isn't affecting Microsoft, or anything
else for that matter, please change the subject header to something
appropriate, or start a new thread, or take it to another newsgroup.
I'm getting really tired of seeing "Views of K Thomson" in the list
of articles.

You left yourself wide open to a response of "We are tired of seeing the
views of K Thopmson in this NG as well" ))))

 

[Kenny McCormack]

[...]

As a personal favor to me, if you want to discuss open source and/or
free software and how it is or isn't affecting Microsoft, or anything
else for that matter, please change the subject header to something
appropriate, or start a new thread, or take it to another newsgroup.
I'm getting really tired of seeing "Views of K Thomson" in the list
of articles.

You left yourself wide open to a response of "We are tired of seeing the
views of K Thopmson in this NG as well" ))))

Oh, I would never say that.

The views of "K Thompson" (sic) are an endless source of perverse
amusement for me - and others.