Even if Google don't see a dime out of Android, it helps to bring down locked alternatives such as the SO on the IPhone and Windows Mobile. That helps to keep the market clean and filled with options.
You mean like Linux helped to bring down locked alternatives like Windows and Mac OS. Yeah, that's working out amazingly well as a plan, especially for the desktop. Don't get me wrong. I believe in the right tool for the right job. I use a lot of different OS platforms on a daily basis (Win, Mac, Linux, BSD...) for different purposes, but Linux is *NOT* making inroads on the desktop after 15 years (or more) of being there.
The if-you-build-them-something-open-they-will-come motto just doesn't hold water.
I use a lot of different OS platforms on a daily basis (Win, Mac, Linux, BSD...) for different purposes, but Linux is *NOT* making inroads on the desktop after 15 years (or more) of being there.
LMAO, I think you can forward my comment to them just fine. If you are speaking of those three using Linux on the desktop, then hurray! They have joined the less than 1% of the world that uses Linux on the desktop (along with me and probably 25% or more of the folks reading this, you insensitive clod!). Now, may I ask what they do for a living that they use Linux on the desktop? If your answer is anything dealing with science or academia then, yeah, that makes sense. One of the only places you see Linux on the desktop is in science and engineering disciplines...right next to Windows and Mac OS.
You can draw parallels to current Linux market share with Mac OS market share in the 1990s, but the problem is the Linux market share was never above where it is now, while Mac OS was above where it was in the 1990s prior to 1993 and is now much larger. Look at a similar 15 year period in Linux history and you will see negligible or no positive increase in market share. Why? User experience, availability of cross-platform applications and general serviceability of the operating environment. Ubuntu has made significant advances for Linux desktop user experience, and OpenOffice.org has allowed for the most basic of computing tasks (general productivity) to come up close to par with existing "for pay/closed" operating systems, but it's still not that serviceable. You still have to have a good deal of wirehead knowledge to make things work right-out-of-the-box, all the time, every time with Linux. The support community for Linux is STILL, to this day, filled with a lot of arrogant unhelpful people, forums that make huge assumptions about their readers, and so called proponents that are no better than the Mac and Windows fanbois they profess to hate on the other side of the fence.
I could go on, but no one is paying me for this! Plus, weren't we talking about Android and Google?!?! Gaaa!
Any benefit ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean like Linux helped to bring down locked alternatives like Windows and Mac OS. Yeah, that's working out amazingly well as a plan, especially for the desktop. Don't get me wrong. I believe in the right tool for the right job. I use a lot of different OS platforms on a daily basis (Win, Mac, Linux, BSD...) for different purposes, but Linux is *NOT* making inroads on the desktop after 15 years (or more) of being there.
The if-you-build-them-something-open-they-will-come motto just doesn't hold water.
Re: (Score:2)
I use a lot of different OS platforms on a daily basis (Win, Mac, Linux, BSD...) for different purposes, but Linux is *NOT* making inroads on the desktop after 15 years (or more) of being there.
Tell that to my dad, my sister, and my wife.
Re:Any benefit ? (Score:2)
LMAO, I think you can forward my comment to them just fine. If you are speaking of those three using Linux on the desktop, then hurray! They have joined the less than 1% of the world that uses Linux on the desktop (along with me and probably 25% or more of the folks reading this, you insensitive clod!). Now, may I ask what they do for a living that they use Linux on the desktop? If your answer is anything dealing with science or academia then, yeah, that makes sense. One of the only places you see Linux on the desktop is in science and engineering disciplines...right next to Windows and Mac OS.
You can draw parallels to current Linux market share with Mac OS market share in the 1990s, but the problem is the Linux market share was never above where it is now, while Mac OS was above where it was in the 1990s prior to 1993 and is now much larger. Look at a similar 15 year period in Linux history and you will see negligible or no positive increase in market share. Why? User experience, availability of cross-platform applications and general serviceability of the operating environment. Ubuntu has made significant advances for Linux desktop user experience, and OpenOffice.org has allowed for the most basic of computing tasks (general productivity) to come up close to par with existing "for pay/closed" operating systems, but it's still not that serviceable. You still have to have a good deal of wirehead knowledge to make things work right-out-of-the-box, all the time, every time with Linux. The support community for Linux is STILL, to this day, filled with a lot of arrogant unhelpful people, forums that make huge assumptions about their readers, and so called proponents that are no better than the Mac and Windows fanbois they profess to hate on the other side of the fence.
I could go on, but no one is paying me for this! Plus, weren't we talking about Android and Google?!?! Gaaa!