Amen. Frank Davenport ----- Original Message -----=20 From: "Phil Mattison" To: Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2004 11:23 AM Subject: Re: Linux in business > Here's an interesting analogy: It's just possible that Linux could be = to the > OS what the PC was to the mainframe and mini-computer. Being an old = fart in > the computer biz, I got to see the entire evolution of the PC to where = it is > now (I started out using DEC-11's & VAX's). Clearly, there were three = things > that made the PC successful: it was an open architecture, i.e. the = technical > specifications were published, no licensing was required (this was a > strategic error on the part of IBM; they didn't think there was a = market for > it,) and finally, it was a standard by virtue of having been designed = by > IBM. Hardware developers could compete because the parts were > interchangeable and there were no royalties to be paid. Linux seems to = have > those three things going for it. The same forces that made people want = to > get away from DEC and IBM now apply to Microsoft, i.e. they were huge = and > rapacious, and tried at every opportunity to make users dependent on = them. > In the early years of the PC, PC users was perceived as being just as = geeky > as Linux users are now. Microsoft became the PC OS because it was run = by > geeks. It still is run by geeks, but now they're old and rich geeks. = When > most of the people who develop linux and its components and = applications can > make money at it, Linux will displace Windows. As long as most people = do it > for fun, it will not. That darn GPL sort of gets in the way of making = money > though, doesn't it? > -- > Phil Mattison > Ohmikron Corp. > 480-722-9595 ext.1 > 602-820-9452 Mobile >=20 > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change you mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss