How much longer will YOU be using Windows at the office?? • Non-Gaming • Science & Technology • Eurogamer.net

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 14:32:39 21,801 posts
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Reckon they 'came out of hyperspace' a bit too close to 'planet Microsoft'?

Anyway... It's called "The Open Invention Network (OIN)"

If OIN's approach to managing intellectual property wins acceptance, it could overcome a big stumbling block to wider corporate adoption of Linux and pose challenges for major opponent Microsoft Corp. (Research), which has argued that relying on "open source" software poses legal risks.

The article

Again, I reference the "next gen consoles is MORE than just about games", and the pack of wolves that are gathering around MS... MS is a BIG animal, but there are a LOT of volves...

Market researcher IDC estimates that the worldwide Linux business will grow 25.9 percent annually, doubling from $20 billion this year to more than $40 billion by 2008.

If patent risk is lifted, Linux use could accelerate at an even faster rate, said Richard Doherty, an industry consultant with Envisioneering Group of Seaford, N.Y.

"This is the green light that a lot of companies have been waiting for," Doherty said. "Unless your name was Novell or Red Hat, you couldn't be sure you had clear legal title to Linux."

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 15:32:13 21,801 posts
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This could be potentially one of the greatest technologial unheavals since the world wide web, and it attracts 2 posts (one offtopic flame).

This has been bubbling for about a year and a half... and no-one seems to give a shit.

Oh well.. I tried.

ssuellid 10 Nov 2005 15:33:39 19,142 posts
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No one gave a shit about software patents on here before.

Blerk Moderator 10 Nov 2005 15:37:46 48,222 posts
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It's a gaming forum. Ultimately the majority of the population doesn't really care whether their games run on Windows, Linux or Jam as long as they run. :-)

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 15:45:06 21,801 posts
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From Otto's link (thanks Otto!):

We're about to see two waves of technical change over the next three to four years that will completely change the landscape of computing. Microsoft will spend whatever it takes to retain control, which could mean ANYTHING. Seriously, ANYTHING. Windows for free? Don't be surprised if it happens.

Blerk I hear you. Heven knows FAR more things are discussed in here than gaming.

I think it's important. I can see you're right though... Very few care.

Edited by Carlo at 15:52:54 10-11-2005

ssuellid 10 Nov 2005 16:56:43 19,142 posts
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otto wrote:
You know back in the days a thread like this would have taken off big-time, we used to have monster discussions about stuff like this.

Search for 'software patents'.

Retroid Moderator 10 Nov 2005 16:58:23 45,464 posts
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If they can get a lot of Linux functions to be as co-ordinated and easy to use as other OSes, then I'd *love* to dump MS.

Aga 10 Nov 2005 17:00:27 2,148 posts
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They should rename to "The Open Invention Network Komrades (OINK)"

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 17:01:36 21,801 posts
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otto wrote:
/old fart mode

You know back in the days a thread like this would have taken off big-time, we used to have monster discussions about stuff like this.

Really, it doesn't get much more interesting imo.

Since writing this, I'd been having some very interesting discussions with the research department here, they've shown me some data they'd got on this (can't show it unfortunately).

This is not something that's going to fizzle out. It's also attracting the attention of the FT (3 articles in the last 2 days) here in teh UK... this means a LOT of the Finacial decision makers are reading this stuff...

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 17:19:51 21,801 posts
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otto wrote:
I want to see UncleLou's take on this.

Maybe the thread title's a bit scary?

Try calling it 'M$ is t3h d000mzd0rd!!!11!'

You have the powah Otto

I can't wait to see BGiE's take on this...

Carlo 10 Nov 2005 17:24:40 21,801 posts
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Go for it Otto...

Ecanem 10 Nov 2005 17:35:02 5,039 posts
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I'd love to see M$ bite the dust..

I haven't read the article (linked) but anyone that can challenge M$ deserves support - compettion is good you know - for us - the end-users...

spindizzy 10 Nov 2005 17:41:06 7,755 posts
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Ecanem wrote:
I'd love to see M$ bite the dust..

I have no problem with MS existing, but I think they should be forced to open up e.g. their document standards. It would be really nice if people could decide which word processor to use based on how well it works as a wordprocessor, not how well it reads some proprietory format that has become all-pervasive.

In other words, it would be nice if someone forced MS to allow competition.

itamae 10 Nov 2005 18:05:40 10,213 posts
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While I appreciate the fact that Linux exists it was clearly designed with someone other than me in mind. In 15 years I've never seen an operating system that was less intuitive and accessible. Still, er, good news, I guess.

lost_soul 10 Nov 2005 18:22:24 9,372 posts
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I find it somewhat amusing that Sony are involved in this!

itamae 10 Nov 2005 19:08:40 10,213 posts
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otto wrote:
Linux comes in lots of flavours.

And that's one of the main problems if you ask me. Everyone I ask recommends a different package. I've tried Suse, Red Hat, Knoppix and the one that came with my laptop (ThinkLinux?) so far, and couldn't even do the simplest tasks without some major help.

Have you ever tried Ubuntu?

No. Should I?

ssuellid 10 Nov 2005 19:15:21 19,142 posts
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otto wrote:
IM 'market'?? I wasn't aware that anyone bought IM apps.

A lot of companies do - especially big US companies - example program is Sametime.

We will continue using windows at work as it works, our it department understands it and they are mostly only downsides to switching to another platform.

sam_spade 10 Nov 2005 19:16:16 15,745 posts
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But you don't have to use Messenger do you, just the network. There are a few third-party apps that you can use.

Deleted user 10 November 2005 19:18:22

About six months ago, my whole office was Windows PC only. Then I bought an iBook, people ooh'd and aah'd and started taken notice of nice it was. Then we got a new designer, who was asked in his interview what his preferred platform to design on was. "Mac", he said. We said hello to two new PowerMacs.

Fast forward to today, said designer has left and his PowerMac has been adopted by one of the tech guys as his second machine. After two days dicking about with it he's considering purchasing a mini. "It just works" he says, with a big grin on his face. The other developer who had fiddled with my iBook a bit now owns a PowerBook.

There's now four Macs running in the office, and everybody who touches the damn things walks away wanting to work with one. People who aren't designers want one. My point is: something's going to change, because people are clearly looking for a chance to do so.

BartonFink 10 Nov 2005 19:18:43 35,268 posts
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otto wrote:
The whole point of the current debate is access to file formats. So the issue doesn't arise.

I thought they were opening up their formats?

Anyhew it's a great idea opening the formats however the only problem I see at the moment is anything decent even coming close to the level of functionality they get with MS Office.

One good thing about MS dominance in the field is everybody can read the documents as everybody uses the same application. Can you imagine the mess things would be if you had a couple of hundred companies offering the same type of application with slightly different implementations. The mind boggles.

itamae 10 Nov 2005 19:22:37 10,213 posts
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Oh, there's also a LiveCD version. *shrug* Oh well, I don't know what to do with my bandwidth anyway.

/downloads

sam_spade 10 Nov 2005 19:23:07 15,745 posts
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BartonFink wrote:

otto wrote:
The whole point of the current debate is access to file formats. So the issue doesn't arise.
I thought they were opening up their formats?

Anyhew it's a great idea opening the formats however the only problem I see at the moment is anything decent even coming close to the level of functionality they get with MS Office.

One good thing about MS dominance in the field is everybody can read the documents as everybody uses the same application. Can you imagine the mess things would be if you had a couple of hundred companies offering the same type of application with slightly different implementations. The mind boggles.

This lends itself to another problem. Data that you can't access because you can't afford to fork out for MS Office suite. It's scary the amount of companies and public service IT departments that assume you have a full Office suite.

Deleted user 10 November 2005 19:23:46

I ran Ubuntu for a while. Sure it looked nice, and was easy to install, but at the end of the day it still felt like Lunix underneath - a bad thing for me.

I still didn't find it easy to install stuff; I found it a nightmare to even grab hold of the right version of IM program for the distro for example, let alone get the damn thing to run. It didn't recognise half my hardware without me forcing it to. Networking inexplicably died for no reason. I trawled through HOWTOs for hours. The GUI was glitchy and felt flimsy... it's still not there yet IMO.

I've been trying Linux on and off every couple of years just to see if I like it, and it's getting a shitload better for sure, but it's not quite there.

BartonFink 10 Nov 2005 19:26:31 35,268 posts
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otto wrote:
Barton, you have read the articles linked to at the top of the thread right...?

Yup

BartonFink 10 Nov 2005 19:27:10 35,268 posts
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sam_spade wrote:

BartonFink wrote:

otto wrote:
The whole point of the current debate is access to file formats. So the issue doesn't arise.
I thought they were opening up their formats?

Anyhew it's a great idea opening the formats however the only problem I see at the moment is anything decent even coming close to the level of functionality they get with MS Office.

One good thing about MS dominance in the field is everybody can read the documents as everybody uses the same application. Can you imagine the mess things would be if you had a couple of hundred companies offering the same type of application with slightly different implementations. The mind boggles.

This lends itself to another problem. Data that you can't access because you can't afford to fork out for MS Office suite. It's scary the amount of companies and public service IT departments that assume you have a full Office suite.

Hmmm much like Adobe then...

BartonFink 10 Nov 2005 19:33:01 35,268 posts
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mouse wrote:
I ran Ubuntu for a while. Sure it looked nice, and was easy to install, but at the end of the day it still felt like Lunix underneath - a bad thing for me.

I still didn't find it easy to install stuff; I found it a nightmare to even grab hold of the right version of IM program for the distro for example, let alone get the damn thing to run. It didn't recognise half my hardware without me forcing it to. Networking inexplicably died for no reason. I trawled through HOWTOs for hours. The GUI was glitchy and felt flimsy... it's still not there yet IMO.

I've been trying Linux on and off every couple of years just to see if I like it, and it's getting a shitload better for sure, but it's not quite there.

You think that's bad try getting an Apache Web Server running a CGI Perl site up and running on Red Hat. FN nightmare. Oh you have that version of RedHat sorry you can't use that version of Perl, or you now have to configure Apache this way. An absolute pain in the arse took us about a week to get the fn thing working. Same configuration on Windows using IIS was a doddle and no the CGI stuff had nothing Windows specific.

I hear nothing but tales of woe coming from guys in work with configuring Linux.

BartonFink 10 Nov 2005 19:34:19 35,268 posts
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Furbs wrote:

sam_spade wrote:
This lends itself to another problem. Data that you can't access because you can't afford to fork out for MS Office suite. It's scary the amount of companies and public service IT departments that assume you have a full Office suite.
Dont they do viewes for pretty much everything though? They're no worse than Adobe for that, and I know a damn sight more people have the ability to edit a Word doc, or an Excel file, than have a PDF editor.

Exactly what I was getting at.

Deleted user 10 November 2005 19:34:37

Exactly. It might be uber-configurable, but for the average Joe with simple needs, its depth is its eventual downfall.

Edited by mouse at 19:42:33 10-11-2005