Microsoft releases public download of Vista

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The "terror" of Vista...

The only answer to that is 1 of 2 things:

a) You're either a very childish person who has not grown out of their lower school behavior.

b) Vista terrifies the h*ll out of you for some reason

I think you're on to something. I think I can define that fear a bit better.

Linux people desperately NEED to spread the FUD about Windows mainly because they need to justify their choice of OS. As it is, they know deep down that Windows, with all it's flaws, security holes and other issues really isn't quite as bad as they make it out to be.

They intimately know that the state of Linux as it is today - it's NOT ready for prime time. MOST users would rather eat glass than switch. Mainly they have needs that Linux can't hope to meet just yet. And it may never quite ever get there either.

The Linux faithful almost always evangelize on how great Linux is with broad statements about how their platform is all ANYONE ever needs - without considering reality. Not everyone who uses a computer just sits in front of their monitor checking email, surfing the web and other basic tasks like writing letters and such. They fail to compute that there are other programs out there that aren't written for or are supported on Linux. And sorry Linux guys - Wine or other emulators bite big wind - the performance hit is just too great.

They also know that should Vista deliver even 90% of it's promises, Linux could be a dead duck. Granted, there's a cottage industry built around Linux out there, but as someone who's been part of the game long enough to know - you can't rely entirely on your existing customer base to survive. You have to reach and most importantly SELL to new markets in order to thrive. Should Vista be successful in turning people away from switching to Linux or maybe even take back some of the market share that's already been lost to Linux, who'd be out there to provide updates, fixes and upgrades to Linux? Would Novell still be supporting and building new versions of Suse? Or would they basically sell off that division like a red headed stepchild before they go out of business? Novell, for what its worth, has a pretty sad track record for apps and such they've purchased.

Would Red Hat still be around? or for that matter would any of the other Linux builds be there?

It's hard to say. Some of it depends on what Apple does with the Mac. If they release OSX in such a way where it can run - like Windows - on plain vanilla x86 hardware, there's a darn good chance that many of the Linux faithful would switch to it. Of course, Jobs would never do that. (Then again, a few years ago, who would have believed Apple would be selling Intel based hardware?)

So, for what its worth - it's probably a bit of both A and B that you see coming out in these forums.

Posted by: Wolfie2K3   Posted on: 06/08/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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