Industry loves a poor design - consumers don't
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| cyber_rigger Sep 12, 2006 10:01 AM EDT |
A recent FUD piece was written, "Dynamic Mixed Duopoly: A Model Motivated by Linux vs. Windows" with lots of "impressive" equations. http://tinyurl.com/fyxcb Here is my reply to them. I haven't heard back from them yet. -------------------------------------------------------- Industry loves a poor design --- consumers don't. In 1954 Ford produced an overhead valve V8 engine. The oiling system sucked. Stories have been told of engines seizing on the show room floor. A new industry was created with retro kits fixing the oiling problem. Then in 1955 Chevrolet came out with their overhead valve V8 engine, a.k.a. "small block". It's oiling system didn't suck. The retro kit companies were sunk. Today a major industry has been created dedicated to fixing Microsoft Windows' problems. I'll call it the the AV (antivirus) industry. Operating system are coming out now that don't need AV. It is my belief, from several informal sources, that the AV industry is subsidizing the major computer OEMs that sell MS Windows. Let's say Symantec pays $X for placement on a new computer hoping to get an annual subscription. Look at future possibilities. 1. Microsoft fixes their software. AV is out of business. 2. Microsoft does AV itself and undercuts/bundles AV. AV is out of business. 3. Nothing. Customers finally realize that Windows sucks and migrates to another OS. Let's assume that the AV subsidies go away, which I think they will, one way or another. The motivation for the OEMs goes away. There could be the case where AV remains and customers are perpetually tortured but I think this is unlikely. Compare the number of '55 Chevys to the '55 Fords. Companies are starting to sell pre-installed Linux. http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/23168/ So there you have it, my completely unscientific feedback. ------------------------------------------------- I got the clues about the AV subsidizing from a direct2dell.com disscusion. What do you guys think? |
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