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newbie_of_jan0502 · Wed Nov 13, 2002 12:31 am

INDIA'S GOVERNMENT Department of Information Technology has announced a sweeping initiative to move the entire country to Linux as its "platform of choice" in place of higher cost 'proprietary' software.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5767

So bill gates gives 100M to fight aids in india.....
... oh and $421m to fight Linux

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/28063.html

Microsoft says it's investing in India’s future

http://www.msnbc.com/news/833934.asp

HA!

HowardDrake · Wed Nov 13, 2002 1:48 am

And India will say thanks for the cash, and keep right on switching to Linux I'll bet. We shall see.

gubbar924 · Thu Nov 14, 2002 1:49 am

you know what, I actually hope that happens

Blahpony · Thu Nov 14, 2002 1:57 am

Hey Bill I use Linux at work. Can I have $10,000 please?

element · Sat Nov 16, 2002 5:54 pm

Read this:
Japanese gov't considers abandoning Microsoft Windows
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=ne ... &id=238876

eric · Sat Nov 16, 2002 7:00 pm

Since when do Americans knock capitolism at its best? MS is a huge success and without it computers would not be where they are today.
Ive used linux and personally I think it SUCKS. MS dominates then world in software and its a American company, I think its good that a US company dominates something for once without us taking second place to Japan or China or whoever.

eckslax · Sat Nov 16, 2002 7:35 pm

If you think that Windows is better than Linux then you need to take another long and hard look at the two OS's and recompare them. Micro$oft makes inferior products that cost substancially more than they should and to top it all off, try to shove them down consumer's throats. Bottom line don't feed the Micro$oft machine.

eric · Sat Nov 16, 2002 7:41 pm

So MS makes inferior products huh, try running a decent game on Linux you wont, ask any programmer if he would rather spend months working on a program to give it away open source and Ill show you a programmer thats full of S**t. Linux will never make it as a main stream OS no matter how much you wish for it. I have complete flexability with Windows you just need to know how to use it properly!

gubbar924 · Sat Nov 16, 2002 9:18 pm

the windows and linux thing is like the women thing

yeah sure one's got a pretty and inviting face while the other one is the one that likes to do her own thing

if you get to know the "not so pretty" one, she'll show you how things are really done while the pretty one uses her looks to get to you

for some, the self-realization obtained from the not so pretty girl is enough to make you want to try it out more

while for others, the pretty face is what makes it easy for them

Gershwin · Sat Nov 16, 2002 10:54 pm

eric wrote:
ask any programmer if he would rather spend months working on a program to give it away open source and Ill show you a programmer thats full of S**t.

Why would someone writting a commercial application that they intend to sell give it away? I believe the point you are trying to make is moot.

Ask anyone if they they'd like to listen to someone trying to make a nonsensical hypothesis from a fallicious argument and they'll tell you you're full of ****.

eric · Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:16 pm

Funny I dont remember mentioning commercial applications, I said OPEN SOURCE try reading what your commenting on!

eric · Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:21 pm

Plus at least Bill Gates has the 100 million dollars to give to the people of India in an attempt to curb the worlds most horrible disease. I havent seen anyone from the Linux camp giving away anything. We should all thank MS for their success, Gates money might just save someones life you know one day!

Forge · Sat Nov 16, 2002 11:43 pm

eric - Your excessive FUD has me considering locking this thread. PLEASE, I'm imploring you, read up a bit more. It's incredibly easy to run a great many games on Linux, most run BETTER than on Windows. It's also NOT required for all Linux apps to be open source. Please check out Nvidia's drivers or Alias|Wavefront's Maya package. Neither are open source, Maya makes (and costs) tons of money.

It's absolutely 100% OK for you to think ANYTHING you'd like, but if you're going to declare it like a religious slogan in here, I'll have to require you to have some facts, preferably from a disinterested source, to back your arguments.

By the way, in the US, Windows is winning. In greater than half of the rest of the world, that statement is less true every day. If it comes down the the US and Windows versus Linux and the rest of the world, Windows will go down. On the other hand, poor countries may suddenly decide having a legit MS OS is more important than having the cash. There's no one that can say for sure, and I think it'd be best if we kept level heads while discussing it.

Gershwin · Sun Nov 17, 2002 12:05 am

eric wrote:
Funny I dont remember mentioning commercial applications, I said OPEN SOURCE try reading what your commenting on!

Yes, but you are specifically comparing motivational determinants for our fictitious programmer trying to decide what environment to work in. You state:

eric wrote:
ask any programmer if he would rather spend months working on a program to give it away open source

Your use of the word rather directly implies that there is an alternative to giving a program and its source code away for free (i.e., not giving it away, selling it aka. commercial). You knew that, right? Maybe not.

Regardless of which environment a programmer choses to work in or platform they decide to program for, they can still sell their software and be completely for-profit, they can give it away for free and/or they can even release the source code (plus a number of other ways I'm sure). That decision is entirely separate from the actual tools and platform they're developing with and for.

If I were developing a commercial application, I'd really have to think about my priorities. Windows is an excellent platform to develop for, for many reasons. Linux is an excellent platform to develop for as well. The biggest reason to develop for Windows is its enormous user base. But it's not necessarily less compelling than being a big fish in a little pond compared with being a little fish in a big pond.

Decisions like this aren't easy.

HowardDrake · Sun Nov 17, 2002 1:14 am

For the record, Linux does some things well and M$ does some things well. It's all what you prefer to do with your computer. I have 3 Windows machines in my house and 4 Linux boxes. The Windows boxes are for games and multimedia, the Linux boxes are servers and such. It all works well, and I'm happy.

I like Linux very much, and once you start getting over the learning curve (which isn't much different than DOS of yore), it's all good and very powerful. That's a free market, and that's good.

Will I abandon M$ if the games I like start coming out for it? In a heartbeat.

Also, MS makes more money from Office than Windows. And I've been setting up clients with OpenOffice instead of MS Office. It has the features my people need, and it's free. The OS is not the end-all, beat-all of a computer. It's a piece, not the whole puzzle. People need to remember that.

[/soapbox off]

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