MS verses Linux

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Microsoft continues to attempt to lock down the personal computer market, while Linux is roaring ahead to dominate the embedded device market.

The end result will be a vast familiarity and dependence on linux, which will cripple or change microsoft.

Here is a good example. Microsoft would never do this: its open source!

http://www.buglabs.net/

Linux dominating servers and embedded devices... now to move inward and get the personal computer market as well.

I really have not found Linux any harder to use than other operating systems. If anything, GNOME is a better and more intuitive UI than the ones produced by MS and Apple. The difficulty lies in getting Linux set up properly.

...until MS comes out with a distro of it's own...

..in the end, there can only be one - Highlander...

Yesterday I took IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 and with pretty much ZERO linux knowledge I got it installed in a few minutes and replicating with my work server.

I am impressed.

The laptop I was using (running Ubunutu) wouldn't even boot up WinXP SP3 (seemed ok with SP2 but slowed down with SP3). Notes itself isn't a small app either.

Anyway Notes/Domino apps that I wrote 10 years ago worked perfectly on it.

Why would I pay for an OS after this kind of experience?

Yesterday I took IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 and with pretty much ZERO linux knowledge I got it installed in a few minutes and replicating with my work server.

I am impressed.

The laptop I was using (running Ubunutu) wouldn't even boot up WinXP SP3 (seemed ok with SP2 but slowed down with SP3). Notes itself isn't a small app either.

Anyway Notes/Domino apps that I wrote 10 years ago worked perfectly on it.

Why would I pay for an OS after this kind of experience?

Microsoft wins, why do you think the Business and personal segment still uses Windows and Ms Office.

So far.

Did you have a look at that buglabs product? Its a modular and portable computer/entertainment device. So far its only for us geeks, but as a body of software is built, average people will find it useful.

Web cam, mp3 player, gps, you name it.. its configurable.

Once most of the devices of the world are Linux based, and people buy a MS device, they will wonder why it wont interface. It will be the underdog, the stand alone device that will be seen as out of place.

They will ask: "Why wont my Zune work with anything else?", and Microsoft will plummet or change. Drastically.

From there, people will make decisions on what sort of computer they use.

They will say "I already have a Linux stereo, my car uses Linux, and so does my Mp3 player, my portable gaming device and the majordomo that controls my house's heating and lighting, and my home weather station device all use linux. If I go somewhere, I have a Linux based GPS and my phone is too. If I buy a windows computer, it will not play nice with these devices. I'll buy a Linux computer this time."

First, companies have to start selling Linux computers, and doing so seriously. From what I've heard, getting a Dell with Ubuntu preinstalled is not as simple as it would seem, and the only other major option is no-name System76. Where are the Lenovos with Debian preinstalled? Where can I buy an HP with Fedora? Toshiba with Slackware?

That's progress for you.. our company is using Notes 6.5 (the bigger the company, the slower the progress... and we all hate it... Didn't know it went past 6.5...but if you actually had to write apps for it, you have my awe, and my condolences...

here's a scary thought. I read in a Wired article that the guy who invented Notes and Groove is in senior management in MS now...shudder...

I love Notes... I've been using it since Version 3.

It's a 20 year old app... been around much longer than Outlook and Sharepoint.

What I don't get is why you're using 6.5 yet I suppose you're no longer using Office 97 and Win95. How is that a fair comparison? Of course you hate it.

For it's time, Notes 6.5 was good. But it's time was about 10 years ago. We're on 8.5.

When IBM Bought notes (at about Version 4.5, they wanted to rebrand and own it). At version 6.5 they wanted to replace it. Halfway though version 7, they discovered that nobody was going to move from it and instead started to move it in a positive direction. It now uses the Eclipse open source framework and is their number one selling product. It's not the product you're using at the moment... not by a long shot.



Writing apps for it is brilliant. It understands a VB style language, Java, HTML, Ajax plus it's original language from about 20 years ago. You can mix and match and pick 'n choose.

by comparison, my VB apps from V6 didn't even port to V7 (when MS shat dot-net on it).

Ray Ozzie, the guy who invented Notes did indeed replace Bill Gates at Microsoft but that was long after he sold Notes. He's now the brains behind sharepoint but I can't see it ever catching up to Notes because MS has a terrible track record for productivity and cross-platform (Notes runs on Windows, Mac, Linux and several other platforms - the server also runs on AIX as well as a bunch of platforms I've only "heard of", never used. Things written for one platform work perfectly well on the others.

(oops... sorry this became an advert).

In any case, the upgrade from 6.5 to 8.5 is simple. Get your workplace to smarten up.