[plug] Fwd: Open source

[Leon Brooks]

On Thursday 28 March 2002 08:56, skribe wrote:
> This was posted to me.  Would someone care to write back to Phil and
> explain why this is not a problem with OSS?

Sure. OSS respects standards, Microsoft beats them into the ground. Any more 
questions?

OSS project fragmentation happens very rarely, is occasionally done 
deliberately to allow some developers more room to focus on special issues or 
subprojects, and often coalesces again. Occasionally, disparate projects will 
coalesce as well.

> I guess what I am saying is, Microsoft's success was gained not from any
> great O/S (we all know that) but rather the uniformity and compatibility
> of it.

Guffaw, guffaw, guffaw... pick any link:

http://www.google.com/search?q=word95+word97+incompatible
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22windows+98%22+%22windows+me%22+incompatible
    [quote from 4th link, entitled `I Installed Windows: Me!: It was as
     easy as A, B, C!': `Norton's 2000 utilities are incompatible with
     Windows Me.']
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22windows+98%22+%22windows+2000%22+incompatible
    [second link is Microsoft instructions for removing Linux, 3rd is
    `Why Windows 2000 Is Already a Failure' from ZDNet, quote `too clunky,
     too complex and too incompatible with older apps to play in this space.']
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22access+2000%22+%22sql+server+2000%22+incompatible
    [from `Office 10 is being pitched as the first sample of the .NET vision'
     I quote `new file format that's incompatible with previous versions.']

...and so on, ad infinitum. Works for any two Microsoft products.

Microsoft's success was gained almost entirely from utterly ruthless business 
practices. And I quote, (from http://128.253.200.17/eric/ms.qt.html) `If 
someone thinks we're not after Lotus and after WordPerfect and after Borland, 
they're confused. . . . My job is to get a fair share of the software 
applications market, and to me that's 100 percent.' -- Mike Maples, then 
World Marketing director for Microsoft.

> ---
> Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.

I think this speaks for itself.

Cheers; Leon