Software vendors urge limits on open source

CNET News.com ^ | 28 November 2002 | CNET

[chilepepper]

The Initiative for Software Choice, which counts Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Intel among its backers, said in comments filed Tuesday that the department should "avoid crafting needless and potentially detrimental IT policy to promote the use" of open-source software. "Open source" means every software developer can view the source code for software, modify it, and use it for free.

The initiative, which launched in May and is chaired by a group called CompTIA, an organization that has close ties to Microsoft, is worried about a recent report that concluded the Defense Department relies on open-source software and recommended its further adoption.

[Bush2000]

And no, I still don't want to write my own OS.

What does "want" have to do with it? You couldn't do it if your life depended on it.

[Bush2000]

You forgot to mention that all these apps talk to each other easily. Did you ever try to get WordPerfect into Lotus? (Oh yeah, Lotus viciously targeted Visicalc and wiped them out!) Or get Netscape to integrate with Domino?

You're correct.

Oh, the Horror...

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

This one is just too silly for words. Have you ever used DBase --?

Gad, I think of the hours spent learning to use DBase years ago and my blood pressure still shoots up. And then it wouldn't do what you wanted it too. No flowers from me on the grave of DBase.

[NativeNewYorker]

For the technically savvy and adept, of course you are right. But that accounts for .0001% of the general populace.

[Bush2000]

For the technically savvy and adept, of course you are right. But that accounts for .0001% of the general populace.

I dunno. Netscape claims to have had about 200 million downloads of their software. There are certainly a lot of idiots out there but, if Netscape can manage that many downloads, I'd say most users can handle Word Viewer.

[NativeNewYorker]

Does word viewer allow editing, saving, and sending?

[Bush2000]

Does word viewer allow editing, saving, and sending?

No. It's a viewer. Exactly the same as the Acrobat Reader that you proposed that the government should promote.

[spunkets]

"This article shows the Orwellian depths to which Microsoft will go in order to destroy its true rivals"

Sounds more like the "workers" are organizing. Maybe they could just start enclosing quick release nicotine puffs in their softwear packs and require all their new computer clients to include a nicotine disperser, so when a microsoft product is run the vapor drifts out from the screen.

[chilepepper]

Ford did NOT invent the assembly line! check your facts befor e you make foolish statements.

Eli Whitney did building rifles to fight the British....

[NativeNewYorker]

That's why the .rtf format is critical...so anyone with wordperfect or abiword or openoffice, etc., could *use* and not just simply view documents.

[no-s]

I get a kick out of the Linux crowd, which thinks that a single product, Linux, and only an OS at that, trumps everything Microsoft does, which is 200 products in 50 languages.

How odd. I don't think that. I do tell my clients I will happily help their Microsoft products work. I remind them if they want everything to work properly with their Microsoft product, every article of software they buy must be approved by Microsoft. Of course, Microsoft may decide not to work with the next version of a particular vendor's product, so they must always be aware of what Microsoft says they are planning. Of course, Microsoft may not do what it says, so they must hire the opinions of industry consultants to be sure they do what Microsoft intends for the customer to do. Did the customer spend enough money with Microsoft? Microsoft prefers to pay attention to your issues proportional to the amount of money you've spent with them, so to be sure of getting the best attention, you need to spend lots of money on Microsoft products.

Even if the customer does not like to do any one of these things, what's the alternative? Where's the incentive to do any different? After all, no one gets fired for buying Microsoft.

BTW, one of the first questions I ask when I take on a job at a blatantly pro-microsoft shop is about the support agreement. Often people will lie about it in order to get me on board, then expect me to pay for per-incident support calls....

[Bush2000]

That's why the .rtf format is critical...so anyone with wordperfect or abiword or openoffice, etc., could *use* and not just simply view documents.

Ah, yes, RTF. A format pretty much invented by Microsoft.

[chilepepper]

Not quite. The only irons I have in this fire are fair play...and an abhorence of software that creates a security nightmare.

I use Windows every day, reluctantly, have to fix Windows problems every day, reluctantly. I get much more done with my Linux, Solaris, SUNOS, and the newer OpenBSD and OS X boxes.

[chilepepper]

The big problem is that Microsoft didn't copy them enough.

[NativeNewYorker]

Its creator is irrelevant. Its utility is the key.

[dheretic]

Linux and other open source software should try charging Microsoft's rate, per seat license, and see what happens to their market share. ;-)

Why? That's the very reason that many businesses are now looking at OSS. OpenOffice at $0 per copy looks a lot nicer than MSOffice at $450-$550 a license for most small businesses. Microsofties tend to forget that such businesses really only use a small subset of MSOffice's features and that that set can be duplicated by probably any competitor to MSOffice quite easily.

[chilepepper]

true story: i bought a M$ sidewinder joystick, the first version of it. got it to work with my windows95plus. worked ok.

bought a new game which needed an upgrade of directX. downloaded (from microsoft) and installed the new version of directx. guess what. no support for the first version of the M$ sidewinder joystick

GAME OVER!

Microsoft won't even support their own products!

[Bush2000]

Not quite. The only irons I have in this fire are fair play...and an abhorence of software that creates a security nightmare. I use Windows every day, reluctantly, have to fix Windows problems every day, reluctantly. I get much more done with my Linux, Solaris, SUNOS, and the newer OpenBSD and OS X boxes.

Based on your comments, you should be able to quit your job and provide services to companies that improve their security. Why not? Or is the problem that there is no demand?

[dheretic]

Damn that Ford for thinking that Hitler and his thugs were great people!

[Bush2000]

Why? That's the very reason that many businesses are now looking at OSS. OpenOffice at $0 per copy looks a lot nicer than MSOffice at $450-$550 a license...

And they're going to get exactly what they pay for, too...