Microsoft or Apple?

[BobJones]

On you didn't get it did you. I was talking about plug-and-play - NEVERMIND.

Lets see... you said

There are quite a few digital cameras, printers, cell phones, etc. that only have drivers for Windows.

So name a couple of examples.
You trotted out the myth that "quite a few" hardware isn't supported by Mac. Now go ahead and show that you are right.
The list of hardware incompatible with macs isn't big at all. How big is the list of hardware that was obsoleted by the move from 95/98 to Win2K?

 

[EtienneK]

MS isn't trying to be more open.

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[Maverick_Nick]

I work for one of the largest companies in South Africa. Even though we have in-house specialists, we still make big use of consultants and outsourcing companies. Let's face it: IT is a scarce skill. It is very difficult for companies to hire the right people for the right job, nowadays.

If something goes wrong, it is much easier to just call in the vendor to come and fix it.

That's true. I mean we've got a few 3rd party system where we sometimes call in for support, but if a consultant is spending a lot of time on your site, then it might be more feasible to get someone in-house.

Anyway my point was if Linux grew in popularity exponentially, then there'd most likely be more Linux support consulting firms, right? Obviously it would take forever to get there and even longer in SA. However, if we do get there, then will companies need to buy support directly from Red Hat, Novell, IBM, etc.? What if they can get it cheaper from a smaller firm? These smaller firms would inevitably take consumers away from the larger companies. Will specialist companies like Red Hat be able to survive with all of that competition. I mean Microsoft couldn't survive on Windows alone so what'll happen to Red Hat? I know... Oracle will buy them.

Do you see how this works? Proprietary companies will eventually consume these companies, and how open do you think they'll be after that? Look at Novell. The Linux community is totally pissed at them.

 

[Maverick_Nick]

Thanks for proving my point.

I think you've lost track of your point. You've said in your previous post that MS is trying to be more open, and I said that MS isn't trying to be more open. So how is that me proving your point?

 

[Maverick_Nick]

We've gone totally off topic. The fact of the matter is that most people prefer Microsoft and this is indicated by market share. So you can say what you like about growth, but Microsoft is still #1. So one day when Apple and Linux is all grown up, you can tell me about it.

I don't need to spend more time on this, because it appears that majority of the world voted my way and the minorities are pissed saying, "we're better, why don't you pick us?" Ah shuck... take it to your congregation why don't you! Remember what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs wasn't there? Well that time will come again, and Apple will be no more than a blip on the radar.

 

[BobJones]

Wow, looks like we've got another Brave Sir Robin on our hands.
Go on run away Sir Robin.

 

[ToxicBunny]

Actually Maverick Nick, ppl use MS simply because they have the dominant market share and its what people know.

Apple is picking up large amounts of market share very very quickly, so on a growth basis, I'd have to say apple is preferred.

 

[d0b33]

MS fanboy ?

 

[icyrus]

I was thinking along the same lines icyrus...

Its at times like this that I wonder if being a loudmouth know-nothing-know-it-all is prerequisite for a microsoft cert or part of the course.

We've gone totally off topic. The fact of the matter is that most people prefer Microsoft and this is indicated by market share. So you can say what you like about growth, but Microsoft is still #1. So one day when Apple and Linux is all grown up, you can tell me about it.

Is microsoft #1 because they have a better product or because of their illegal anti-competitive behavior? And, by the way, are we talking about desktop market share?

You must be pretty desperate for vindication of your choices in life.

 

[fskmh]

We've gone totally off topic. The fact of the matter is that most people prefer Microsoft and this is indicated by market share. So you can say what you like about growth, but Microsoft is still #1. So one day when Apple and Linux is all grown up, you can tell me about it.

I don't need to spend more time on this, because it appears that majority of the world voted my way and the minorities are pissed saying, "we're better, why don't you pick us?" Ah shuck... take it to your congregation why don't you! Remember what happened to Apple when Steve Jobs wasn't there? Well that time will come again, and Apple will be no more than a blip on the radar.

http://www.novell.com/company/blogs/cmo/?p=74

Linux and Open Source technologies continue their advancement into today’s data centers where according to Gartner, 67% of data centers run some combination of Linux and Windows.

Even this self-congratulatory post celebrating Novell and MS's $356m deal has some numbers that don't exactly back up your carefree assertions.

GNU/Linux and OS X uptake differs by application, i.e. desktop publishing, multimedia, number crunching, data storage etc. General purpose desktop is just another application. MS shills like you can no longer afford to generalise in the manner you have exhibited.