[aclug-L] Re: uh-oh

[J T <kovar_the_squishy@xxxxxxxxx>]

--- Jonathan Hall <jonhall@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> It leaves us where we always were... laughing at
> Microsoft, and offering
> better solutions to the people who are slowly
> realizing that they, too, hate
> M$ and it's infinite wisdom.

You'd think that wouldn't you?  Any logical person
would, especially as the linux sections in some
software stores grow from non-existent to a shelf with
some copies of QIII and perhaps the latest from
Mandrake and Corel.

Unfortunately I don't think this is the case.  People
like us who are either good with computers or willing
to be patient are fewer in number than I think we'd
all like to believe.  Most people I have seen, at the
university I work at and in many computer stores,
aren't hardcore.  They just want a box they can unpack
from the Styrofoam and use.  If something goes wrong
they'd rather have someone else deal with it, like a
broken toaster oven.  Think about it for a second...
why else would they jump at the IMac?

So where does this leave us on a whole?  I think
computing will become two distinct worlds.  

One will have all the above mentioned people who just
want to sit down at the box and have no real patience
for it.  These are the people who will buy into
Microsoft's computing service hook, line, and sinker. 
Perhaps they might go Mac, but the world of linux or
Unix is still too foreign and too much work.  After
all, why learn when you can keep hitting the
feeder-bar? 

The other world will be quite similar to the one we
all are in right now.  After all, there will still be
a demand for professional computing.  Servers will
still need to be able to host things on their own, and
many professionals, as well as other people, will
still need to have computing power that they can
control themselves.  Linux will still thrive in this
arena.  As will Windows NT based OS's, because "M$"
will still want to appeal to these customers if there
is money to be made.

What I think will happen is that this new online-based
solution will be the champion service for newbie
users.  It'll be like the next IMac, only more
twisted. Hell, this might even be the future of the
9x/Me series of OS's from Microsoft. Serious computer
users will pass it up in favor of things that they can
do more with.  They will continue to buy apps and
OS's, or get them for free online.  Just because MS
offers it does not mean that the government will
mandate people use it.

On a completely different side-note, has anyone heard
anything new about the MS court cases?  I haven't
heard anything since they submitted some
textbook-sized legal document to the courts as some
sort of appeal.

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