greed (was)

[Brandon Van Every]

Paul Boddie wrote:
>Now imagine what would
> happen if the hardware companies were openly sanctioning Linux
> software - this is arguably the last major obstacle to Linux taking a
> lot more of Microsoft's market share.

That's the rub.  It's a chicken-and-egg problem, and Microsoft has most of
the chickens and eggs.  Implementing usability features that most consumers
want is one way to attack the fortress.  But hobbyist engineers mostly don't
care about that, so they squander the opportunity.  Ergo the market
perception of Linux remains "a hacker's OS" whereas Windows is "a consumer's
OS."  Rightly so.

>> The bottom line is the Linux guys can't keep up with all the vast
>> choices of the PC HW industry.
>
> Yes. Read the above comments to be familiar with the most pertinent
> reasons for this. It often has very little to do with "skill" or
> "elite" status.

It does have to do with offering compelling value to the consumer.  Say what
you want about how evil / nasty / awful / lousy Microsoft is, they offer
more compelling value to the consumer than Linux does.

> I wonder if DirectX is the API that PlayStation games use, however.

You're kidding, right?  PlayStation is Sony.  They most certainly don't use
Microsoft technology as the core of their business!


--
Cheers,                         www.3DProgrammer.com
Brandon Van Every               Seattle, WA

20% of the world is real.
80% is gobbledygook we make up inside our own heads.