On 25 Mar 2005, at 15:37, Rory McCann wrote:
> The problem is that some people might see
> Firefox/OpenOffice/Thunderbird as no real different from
> IE/Word/Outlook, so it looks like open source people are 'just
> copying' Microsoft. Which hurts any claim of innovation.
The real problem there is that the man on the Clapham omnibus knows
what he knows about computers from his exposure to Microsoft software.
Accordingly, anything he sees on a computer is likely to to be regarded
as 'just copying' Microsoft. Look how that Apple crowd copied the
Windows user interface.
> We need to find something developed "without the financial incentive
> of success".
Linux? The Gimp? OpenOffice?
Most open source software has been developed "without the financial
incentive of success".
> Or try to prove that people pay for open source software development.
You could start by asking Sun how much OpenOffice has cost them to date.
Niall
Maintained by the ILUG website team. The aim of Linux.ie is to
support and help commercial and private users of Linux in Ireland. You can
display ILUG news in your own webpages, read backend
information to find out how. Networking services kindly provided by HEAnet, server kindly donated by
Dell. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds,
used with permission. No penguins were harmed in the production or maintenance
of this highly praised website. Looking for the
Indian Linux Users' Group? Try here. If you've read all this and aren't a lawyer: you should be!
