__/ [ ws ] on Monday 05 June 2006 10:56 \__
> Nice blog:
>
> http://www.PAGERANK-CONDOMmicrosoftmonitor.com/
>
> "Microsoft competitors should look at the increases in upfront costs as
> a sales opportunity. And I would strongly encourage Microsoft
> competitors to emphasize the upfront costs--and not total cost of
> ownership--when engaging potential customers. TCO is a good way for
> Microsoft to shift the focus away from increased upfront software
> acquisition costs."
It's more like the 'make believe' approach. Since to any given company it is
extremely difficult to track expenses over the long term, try to do 'the
work' *for* them and quote bogus figures. That's what Microsoft is aiming to
achieve in their Get the Cr*p Campaign", which they advertise through Linux
sites and SERP's. They could (and in practice they do) easily quote just
about any biased figure to suit the argument, which the customer is unable
to judge for self. TCO studies are an evil thing when put in the wrong hands
and given a pocket deep enough to proclaim.
> People will pounce and say this post is all about MS, but I remember
> 2003 being a time when people were starting to be *open* to the ideas of
> replacing MS, and since OO was improved to the point of "useable", I was
> able to get a significant number of people to try it out instead of
> paying for "Software Assurance". Some succumbed, bit the bullet and
> upgraded, but many stayed with Office 2000 and 98, even less switched to
> OpenOffice.
>
> 2006 looms as the year where WGA and "forced" upgrades will encourage
> more to be open to trying OpenOffice again, and this time, with version
> 2, I think more would switch.
Don't forget the static state of development and the always-delayed release
dates. Once the Vista/Office anti-climax is reached, Windows users will look
at their counterparts and deeply envy, knowing that Vista /still/ requires
60% of its code to be re-written and will thus be in a dormant state of
progress, for many years to come.
> Fewer takers for replacing the OS, but when partners of MS like Symantec
> and Adobe start drawing lines in the sand, you know there is trouble
> ahead, and one might as well suggest to them to use a less encumbered OS
> like Linux.
It is likely that these two companies will begin to lobby Linux and port more
of their applications to Linux (Photoshop soon to come?). I can't recall if
Symantec have already built anti-virus software for Linux, but Adobe
recently announced that Flash Player 9 will be available for Linux. Acrobat
Reader 7 was also made available for Linux, after a long time of negligence
and (no version 6). It's all coming along very well! Open the window and
watch the penguins play.
Best wishes,
Roy
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | "I regularly SSH to God's brain and reboot"
http://Schestowitz.com | SuSE GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
1:45pm up 38 days 19:18, 11 users, load average: 1.93, 2.35, 2.29
http://iuron.com - help build a non-profit search engine
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