How long can M$ last?

[gnomez]

It seems to me open source software such as Linux is accelerating in its robustness so rapidly that if it continues much longer Microsoft may be doomed.  For instance in the last year Linux has advanced more than Windows has in the last 2 and a half years.  Even if Linux is lagging behind on the desktop it won't for long...  Maybe MS knows this and that is why they launched a huge campaign against GNU software.

[Master of Reality]

yes some nicer DVD support would be nice.
I have to install windows on my computer just to see if my new DVD actually works or not.

[askani]

well, i was just in my linux system.  i had to work on installing a driver for my video card so's i could play quake 3(and a LOT of mods) and other games. it took a while cause the kernel driver had fucked up permissions. that's exactly the problem linux still has. windows gave up 90% of its security and stability to become user friendly. and it's getting better. linux, on the other hand is trying to fight windows on windows' playing field, with windows' weapons. and i dunno if it's gonna be that succesful.

this board is proof that linux is getting bigger and better than before, but think about it. what is the percentage of angry consumers ACTUALLY switching to linux? even though lx is experiencing new, never before seen growth, it'll be a while until it's any real competition to windows. and i doubt that by then m$ will have stood by twiddling its thumbs. since linux doesn't really have an established consumer base, its position in the market becomes that more precarious. Windows has home users, and no person will give up the "ease" of windows, or make theitr children use something so "foreign" to them when they can have that adorable point&click interface. plus, software producers, although starting to play the field a bit, are still on the WINning side. Hopefully, the first step to beating M$ will be having an established consumer base, much like Macs. That should be the goal of this operation for now. .........just my 2 cents.  

[psyjax]

I have faith in Linux. I mean, look at MacOS X. It gave up none of it's security or hard core OS elemnts and yet manages to be more userfriendly than any Linux Desktop or Windoze.

So it's possible. Besides, Mac's have 20+ years of GUI OS's, and several more years of UNIX experience (A/UX, NeXT Step, OPENStep, etc. etc.) Not to mention an open source comminity. So it has taken alot for them to get to this point.

Windoze is still somewhere around OS 6 when compared to the MacOS timeline.

So what about Linux?

Linux has less than half the development time of Apple and windows and look how far it has come! They are already at OS 4 or 5 IMO, and they are gaining fast.

You can't beet the thousands of developers who are working on this OS day in and day out, not to mention the throngs of computergeeks hacking away at the source. This is something Apple and M$ don't have.... well, maybe Apple (but their smart)  

I think Linux will be the next competitor for windoze. If KDE and Gnome keep improving as they have in each succesive release, I say in less than two years, we will have a truely functional GUI OS, built upon the powerfull, secure Linux kernel. M$ will be running for their lives  

Just read the Halloween Documents, M$ knows that Linux is a force that is to be reckond with.

So then what will happen?

Linux and MacOS X will go hand in hand, since porting software between the two has never been easyer and the world will be populated by computers that are good and Rightious, and Free!!!!!

   ok ok ok... too excited... but you get the idea