Hmmm... 12hrs (when orginally this was supposed to be posted) into thread posting and already so many replies? I didn't expect it!
Anyways, first things first. @gx, stop asking anyone to lock this thread. You have no right to ask anyone to do that. I don't understand why on every thread that seems to be a threat to MS, you keep asking to lock it. If you don't want to reply on this thread, don't! But other's who want to express their opinions, let them! If you think statements against MS is flaming, then I would ask you not to reply in this thread anymore.
As far as the thread itself is concerned, whether it was written by some stupid blogger is totally irrelevant because of the fact that what ever presented is clearly the thruth and logical reasoning can tell you that.
Software business is no longer a money machine because of the simple fact that first of all people expect things to be cheap and available freely to them because they expect things like computers to help easily without being a money monker. Secondly, there are lot of other softwares that are alternatively available either free or at a fraction of the price. Now, even if there is no alternative, people have managed to crack every software that one can imagine of! There is hardly any software in the world that has not been cracked. Sofware piracy can never be stopped because no matter how much of intelectual property rights and any other legality involved, it always points to the basic fact of human life that is computing for free and not at a killing price! Money being charged for very specifically used applications can be justified, but sofware for everyday use(OS) being charged? I don't think that is justified when there are a hell lot of other alternative softwares that can be available for free!
And it makes sense to anyone in the world that get it as cheap as possible is the best thing! Hardware prices were at a very forbidden price long back but today it has come down the reach of common man but the case with sofware has been the other way around. The prices have always been going away from the reach of common man and let me tell you that, that is a very bad monopolistic greedy idea in this age where computing is available at a much cheaper rate!
The point is simple, if you don't bring down the price, we are going to look for alternatives! If anyone thinks that the hundreds of big corporates who are replacing their entire infrastructure with cheaper linux based models are nut crackers and are dumb idiots who are stupid, then I don't know what to say about the person who thinks like that? And also if you think companies like IBM, Dell and HP who happened to be the largest desktop PC manufacturers in the world are pre-installing linux on their systems because they are stupid and have seen the potential, then again, I don't know what to say to people who think so! And also the no. of Linux Apache servers compared to Windows servers will tell you the story about how well MS is in the server market! Hell, now that IBM is bringing out cell based servers, it's even going to break the Intel-MS monoply or partnership.
@Imav, you didn't get the point about the XBox, did you? how will you when you eyes are blindfolded by microsoft? The point is not about the sales volume for the XBox, but the fact that the XBox has been selling at a loss especially at times when MS announced a $1billion fund into replacement and warranty due to the ROD issues on the XBox. How will you understand that? naa... forget it!
For those of you who keep saying linux is so hard to install and so hard to work with, either you haven't installed the latest versions on your systems, or you dont' know anything about computing that you just stick to something that is commonly used by people who don't know how to use computers or you are simply a ProMS!
Open your eyes people, this is the era where companies have realized that it's the right of every person to have 'affordable computing' and not squeeze the money out of people who just want to use a computer because they have to!
Related Links:
Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Chooses SUSE Linux Enterprise for 30,000 Desktops and 1,880 Servers
