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Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free

Posted by Phalanx on · 4 comments
An Amazing Mind; By Vlad Dolezal
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A highly unusual take on why Linux isn't very popular on the desktop. Apparently Linux has one major problem: It's free. In the author's words: "I know this sounds like complete dog's bollocks, but hear me out before judging my sanity."

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Comments (4)

Yeah, that is the ticket. Just lie and misinform your prospective victims. I can see how that will build an empire the size of the Redmond Behemoth.

Today, the dominance of Windows/Office is due to network effect, nothing else. MS doesn't even have to crush competition anymore, because there isn't enough to directly threaten them.

The demise of MS will come from a thousand cuts and the decadence within. It'll be a slow process, but we will witness it. I don't think becoming dishonest will speed up that process significantly.
>Today, the dominance of Windows/Office is due to network effect, nothing else.

What else do they need? Network effects are incredibly powerful.
> Network effects are incredibly powerful.

It's a sign that "pride cometh before a fall" that Microsoft never figured out how powerful they would be if they had written Office for as many different OSs as they could, instead of putting everything into the Windows basket. (with a nod to Office for Mac, and the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley as to the why of that)

Win95 was a triumph of marketing. The success of that product in pure dominance of market deserves to be studied and recognized.

But, and it's a huge butt, Microsoft got greedy. They may not need anything more than network effects to make gobs of money, but they want it _all_.
Quoting:Microsoft got greedy


Every CS student should know that greedy algorithms are very rarely optimal and only sometimes somewhat efficient...

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