Subj : Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again) To : comp.programming From : Randy Howard Date : Fri Sep 23 2005 10:11 pm MSCHAEF.COM wrote (in article ): >> What is funny >> to me is hearing people bitch about MS, after buying tons of >> product from them, knowing the entire time what their track >> record is. > > It's a lack of long-term thinking. Nobody got fired for buying > Microsoft, and the negative consequences of a choice to adopt > VB2 (for example) weren't felt until 10 years later. Actually, that's not true. I know of a guy that was an IT director for a medium-sized startup. They had a big debate about what to do with respect to MS or using open source for a lot of backend processes, servers, email, etc. He decided to stick with MS, despite a lot of opinion to the contrary in the company, and they got hit hard by one of the virus outbreaks not too long afterward. He got axed. My suspicion is that will become increasingly commonplace over time unless some miraculous el supremo service pack comes along that magically cures the systemic problem. Odds of that? Pretty close to zero. >>> When I say 'experimental', I don't mean crappy software, I mean >>> different software. Where do you think Squeak, Python, Perl, or >>> Linux would be if they had to start out as $50 boxed software at >>> CompUSA? >> >> The venues for a lot of programmers to get wealthy, instead of >> standing around pissed because Microsoft is and they're not? > > Oh... of course, given the raging success of commercial/closed-source PC > Unix and Smalltalk, how could I have missed that outcome... Probably by making the assumption that the only software products that made people rich fit into your narrowly selected classes. You must have been completely asleep during the late 90s. -- Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR) .