[Ilugc] Is the proprietary camp winning ?
- From: goda.abishek@xxxxxxxxx (Ingeneur)
- Date: Tue Oct 17 10:40:59 2006
couple of 30 year old corporations.
Well we can counter/accept this for FOSS after maybe another 30 years.
business plans. They would have asked the same question which we are
(sort of)asking today, 'How can proprietary software be a viable
software model when compared to proprietary hardware which has created
such million-dollar businesses ?'.
Would they have? That was a time when nobody was writing Linux for
free. They did need some kind of (at least) assembly language to
operate on these machines. That they could foresee a requirement to do
software is why they are what they are today.
IBM had os/2 and I read from some books that it is amongst the best
OSes written till date. Maybe they don't ship it any more. I dont even
know how user friendly it is. Technically a superior one as claimed in
some literature. They had a huge hardware business and a very
sucessful one. If os/2 were to ship free and remain open (I agree,
nobody thought in those lines), would there have been a windows at
all? Not that I want windows here today. But when they neednt have
seen software as a viable business option, they neednt have sold it.
Wouldnt you agree?
I'm sure they would not have had an answer to that question, as is the
same case today.
I needed that. This is why I avoid quoting examples!!
But consider the fact that a few determined
individuals do take the plunge at the same time believing that the
FOSS-business model is the right way forward for the future of the
computer industry then think of the implications that these companies
will have after 30+ years of their inception.
My wishes to those. But let me tell you- Keep business and interests
separate whenever possible. If all you want is market share, then one
thing to do is keep competitors at bay. And give me some good ways of
doing that with FOSS and I will buy one.
Also, remember that Apple was once on the
verge of bankruptcy.
So was IBM, they were in h/w industry. Not bankrupt but huge losses.
That is a part of most business and is irrelevant to being FOSS/not.
But can you survive one is an important question.
--
Regards,
Abishek Goda
http://goda.abishek.googlepages.com
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