Most people would still buy their software provided that it was priced reasonably.<br>Microsoft Office ***upgrade*** version is over $300.<br>If I were Microsoft I&#39;d use OSS as a jump off point, slap a pretty user interface on it and sell it with support.<br>
<br clear="all">--<br>JD Austin<br>Twin Geckos Technology Services LLC<br><a href="mailto:jd@twingeckos.com">jd@twingeckos.com</a><br>480.288.8195x201<br><a href="http://www.twingeckos.com">http://www.twingeckos.com</a><br>
<br><br>Fred Allen &nbsp;- &quot;Television is a medium because anything well done is rare.&quot;
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 9:26 AM, James Finstrom <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:jfinstrom@rhinoequipment.com">jfinstrom@rhinoequipment.com</a>&gt;</span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<a href="http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/microsoft-layoffs-live-msft" target="_blank">http://www.alleyinsider.com/2009/1/microsoft-layoffs-live-msft</a><br><br>I lived a short while in Washington and knew many Microsoft employees so in a general sense Microsoft laying off 5000 people sucks but in another sense I would like to think that this is partially our (the Linux world&#39;s) doing. Having to compete with (free as in beer) software and pirates it really is hard to keep going. This shows a flaw in strategy for the Redmond folks.&nbsp; I would say if they did a survey especially of the 30 and under crowd about piracy 80+% would see nothing wrong with it and would not morally classify it as stealing. this mind set is really going to be the death of sold software. It is often said people don&#39;t adopt Linux because because there is no reason too when they can get the other stuff free too.&nbsp; We live in an age where information/data is free (as in beer) weather that was the intent of the creator or not.&nbsp; Just amaizing that one of the richest companies in the world is not sucking it up and eating loss for a few years. I do have to wonder though if bill gates was still at the wheel if they would eat it. Bill gates love him or hate him is a verry generous person and I believe he would have fought this over all. <br>
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<br><br clear="all">James Finstrom<br>Rhino Equipment Corp.<br><a href="http://rhinoequipment.com" target="_blank">http://rhinoequipment.com</a> ~ <a href="http://postug.com" target="_blank">http://postug.com</a><br><br>

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