Comments on: The gift of software

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Mon, 23 Aug 2004 05:05:14 +0000

Yep – Gates: “Although about three million computers get sold every year in China, people don’t pay for the software. Someday they will, though. And as long as they’re going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They’ll get sort of addicted, and then we’ll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade.”

Also have a look here – http://p2pnet.net/story/1819

Cheers!

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 23:17:15 +0000

it was only after being forced to eliminate pirated versions of MS, that many Asian countries started to veer toward Linux, then MS hits right back with a new, affordable “Lite” version of Windows.

MS’s plan all along was to allow piracy initially, get them hooked, then make them pay later.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 06:45:38 +0000

‘Hmm — does anyone recall Microsoft giving away Internet Explorer for free as part of winning the browswer wars over Netscape?”

Don’t forget that the Internet Explorer browser code was ‘licensed’ from Spyglass – a commercial arm for the NCSA Mosaic browser. After Microsoft bought Spyglass they modfied the Mosaic browser. Mosaic’s source code was available under copyright for individual personal use, an academic institution or for internal business use. (Sounds very similar to Open Source to me.) Microsoft bought SpyGlass out in order to squash Netscape – microsofts own “sucess” with IE was based on a company that shared its source code

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 02:47:46 +0000

“in high tech, winners don’t have to share. While rivals resort to giving products away, Microsoft gets paid real money for its efforts.”

Hmm — does anyone recall Microsoft giving away Internet Explorer for free as part of winning the browswer wars over Netscape?

Seems that one way to become a winner is to give away the product for free (as in beer). Now with Linux, the shoe is on the other foot for Microsoft.

I agree with an earlier poster that Microsoft’s global share would be far worse and that of Linux far greater already, except for the fact of software piracy that gets Microsoft’s products into many hands for free or very little.

In fact, as part of joining the WTO, China is required to deal with software piracy and this is another motivation that is now pushing them toward Linux.

Even apart from piracy, the “real money” that Microsoft is paid is rapidly having to be scaled back in order to avoid defections to Linux. Google the phrase “doing a Newham” (in quotes).

Bottom line: Even if “winners don’t have to share”, its also true that “sharers can be winners”.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Sat, 21 Aug 2004 02:20:39 +0000

I’m sure when Id Software finally releases the source of the Quake3 engine this year, I guess that game was a failure too hmm?

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 23:38:20 +0000

Microsoft dominate only because of software piracy. The day nobody pirates Windows I’m sure Linux will be the number 1 in the desktop. So, the reality is that Microsoft has to give it’s software for free to most of the world so it can be the most used. Sorry english language mistakes.

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 22:52:41 +0000

In the P2P world, the recent open-sourcing of Shareaza – and Limewire before that – certainly disproves Fitzgerald’s assertion that only losers and has-beens ever get open-sourced. These were already probably the most popular Gnutella P2P clients when they made the leap.

Could M$ possibly be upset and on the attack because they are being made to look like fat, greedy pigs?

By: Reader's Write

Reader's Write — Fri, 20 Aug 2004 22:46:27 +0000

“While rivals resort to giving products away, Microsoft gets paid real money for its efforts.”

now try saying that with a straight face