I agree with the need to be user friendly and I don't think Linux is there yet. In the past few years they have made HUGE advancements and I think will soon have a product which is equally as user friendly. The difference is that Linux has a very strong core product and is now in the process of building a UI to make it user friendly. Microsoft however built the good UI and now is trying to improve the core which is much more difficult because they have to maintain backwards compatibility all the time. That's why I think Google is the company who can put those final touches on the Linux user interface and developer tools and then use their marketing power to get into the OS market. But like I said before... I don't want to see Google take over the OS market, I just want to see competition in the OS market. Because with competition we'll see huge advancements that will benefit everyone.
Linux is not generally user friendly in my opinion, but then, neither is Windows. UNIX can be user friendly if you get it with the Macintosh shell.
Have you tried www.mepis.com You can get this Linux OS on a CD from their store for about 15 Bucks, it will boot on your Windows box from the CD drive so you don't have to load it to hard drive to test it!! http://store.mepis.com/home.php I got it, it is fantastic
So you must buy Linux OS now?? I was thinking, human knowledge belongs to the world and it must be free
Linux and many variations of it are free, you can download it, but its going to be over 1gb of data. So if you have the bandwidth then no problem. Also there is a similar program Anthony called, Knopix It boots directly from the cd-rom also and is a very very handy program, especially if you can't get into your windows box for some reason and need an alternative way. Has saved me a few times Brad
Thanks Brad, I would rather buy the CD's because it takes a long time to download an OS, I think it was 95 hours, then I asked Mepis to just send me the CD.... $15.00 is not to much to pay to play
LOL. That looks like a pretty lame view now. Another proof that the success of a company is depends on people more than cash on the bank. Even Bill knows that...
When Microsoft released Vista, it caused a massive increase in the amount of Linux users, especially since Microsoft tried to make people switch to Vista, and many people decided to go to linux instead. Google have already made their own version of linux, 'Goobuntu', based on Ubuntu. Google is also porting many of their apps over to linux. If Microsoft gets rid of the whole browser thing and practically makes people use MSN Search, their will be people who dont want to, and even more people will move away from Windows. Sure Microsoft has the power and cash to possibly kill Google if they tried, but Google actually gets alot of money as well, and they release great free apps,which has already cost Microsoft quite a bit. And Google's online apps are platform independent, so you don't need to have Windows to use them, which could make more people switch away from Windows. And because Google doesn't have a commercial operating system and office suite, it is fighting only one war. Microsoft however, is fighting against Open Office, which is great and Firefox, which is way better than IE, faster, and more secure. They are also losing market share at a rapidly increasing rate to Apple (Max OSX) and to Linux, which has improved exponentially in the past few years. And Microsoft gets money, and alot of it, from people, and mainly because they didn't have a usable alternative a few years ago. But now they do, and Microsoft will lose alot, in many areas, so even if they kill Google, in a way it will only make things worse.
If MS tries to make everything we use MS, then people will abandon MS altogether, people like choice, and now theres plenty of good, non-MS choice out there. Firefox, Open Office and Linux are just a few, and i don't want a MS controlled computer. I want to be able to use what i want without people(MS) suggesting (forcing) us to use their services. A complete monopoly is bad for the consumers, and many people out their know that. Many more apps (like Firefox and Open Office though they have for a while) now work better on Linux than Windows and don't cost anything. (Windows and Office together are quite expensive). And now Linux is an option pre-installed on computers from most major vendors in the US, UK and EU (not Australia =()
I think MS is not paying attention to the search engines, they focus on their own products/services Google is watching MS and dreaming to be able to have a chance. My opinion is, search engines is just a piece of cake comparing to the software that MS is doing.