Red Hat couches Microsoft-Novell pact as a Linux win

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Linux win, MS Win. Who cares?

Me, I'm getting fed up with all the paranoia.

Linux wants market share, as does MS. It doesnt matter whether its OSS or licensed code thats running on systems so long as it works, right?

The big problem with Linux in general is that its too technical and proprietary. The reason MS has the market share is that its system is a standard, whereas Linux isnt unless its a bought-and-paid-for binary distro. Novell see this and are probably also fed up with dilution of any so-called standards by poorly-written code, the same reason Gates dislikes OSS in general.

All the time you have Linux vs MS, there will never be standards to guarantee both success. Its been pointed out that if MS kill or swallow Linux they'd be accused of monopoly, a fair point.
But no-one lauds Gates for trying to create a world where standards guarantee that everyone has solid software that works in a manner that everyone can access without learning how it works - the main reason Linux is still a niche OS compared to Windows.

Its not about 'Oh, MS do it this way, so we'll do the opposite' because all that does is alienate all but the hard-core flag wavers and drive them to something that works without needing arcane knowledge. I'm not a fanboy, but I like MS. Before them I had to learn the inner workings of many disparate systems to get what I needed out of computing, and I'd still have to if I used Linux as it stands now. That or emasculate myself with Apple's blinkered standards.

MS provides a successful global platform based on ease of use through familiarity without intricate study of the whole. Linux provides a means to build a custom system for a specific purpose without bloating, but it requires intimate knowledge of the system components and cant be set up properly without that.

Both Linux and MS are here to stay and for very different reasons. Novell are just trying to grab market share with transparent interoperability that MS cant provide on its own and user support that Linux cant on its own either.

End users win in the end, and thats what it should be about anyway.

Posted by: HexHammer67   Posted on: 11/04/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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