Re: Say NO NO NO to Wal-Mart!!!

Rich Soyack wrote:
> "Nonymous" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > "Albert Wagner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> > > On Sun, 30 Nov 2003 17:07:06 -0700
> > > Bob <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > Albert Wagner wrote:
> > >
> > > <snip>
> > >
> > > > > More expensive? Linux is free.
> > > >
> > > > Not by the time you pay the IT tech folks who install it.
> > >
> > > Aw, Poor Bob thinks Linux is too "technical." Poor Bob equates many
> > > options with "too technical."
> > > <snip>
> >
> > Well, I don't know about Bob, but do you honestly believe the average
> > consumer is able to handle Linux?  You know... the Joe Schmoes and Sally
> > Schmellis you see with confused looks in the computer aisles of Best Buy.
> > Heck, these people think AOL owns the internet and they struggle to sign
>
> up
>
> > and install NetZero.  You honestly think they can handle Linux?
>
>
> Well, as I said before, the real question is how many applications are
> available on Linux?
> Unless, of course, you are not interested in how well they sell.
>
> Rich Soyack

That is a good point.  One of the "values" of Microsoft is that it has 
become "standard" throughout most of the world.  Having computer 
products that talk to each other out of the box is a godsend.  Whether 
or not the product is "the best" is irrelevant for most people if it 
doesn't work easily with the rest of their computer systems.

There was a time, and Bob doesn't know if its still that way, when half 
of the MAC products wouldn't talk to the other half of their own 
products.  Just putting a MAC system together and getting it to run took 
a technical expert and a pile of manuals - half of which were wrong.

Microsoft may be huge, and that irritates some people, but 
standardization is what created most of the computer systems we enjoy 
today.  IBM's original decision to go with "open" architecture based on 
MS-DOS and Intel chips allowed the massive growth of computer technology 
and applications that Atari, Commodore, Apple, etc., could never support.

Like Rich says, the availability of hardware and software applications 
that plug in, talk to each other, and word without a big investment of 
technical time getting it to work is a large value to the customers.

Bob