Sunday, August 15, 2004
The Windows Alternative
Low-cost/affordable computing is an issue that's been covered several times on this blog. Besides the obvious hardware cost, there is the monopoly rent charged by Microsoft on its software which inflates the cost of computing. The obvious alternative is Linux and I have mentioned before that I saw more Linux-oriented ads on TV in India than I have ever seen in the U.S. As Linux gets more and more user-friendly, becomes more compatible with office software, and governments get more interested, is Microsoft facing a real threat of losing its desktop monopoly? Here is Wade Roush's take after he bought a Linspire-based system at Wal-Mart for $278 (apprx INR 12,500).
It had a respectable 1.6-gigahertz processor, a serviceable 40-gigabyte hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, an MP3 player, and enough other software to keep me occupied for life, though supporting it all was a barely adequate 128 megabytes of RAM.Rather than Windows and Office, it came with Linspire 4.5, one of the many commercial versions of the open-source Linux operating system that are now available, and a link to a website where I could download a variety of open-source applications.
True, Microsoft still commands 94 percent of the market for PC operating systems. But Linux is gaining fast. Software that gives a Linux machine the look, feel, and functions of a Windows PC is available both in free, unsupported versions and in souped-up commercial versions from a growing group of companies such as Novell, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and Lindows, the company that makes the Linspire system. In Toronto, customers can walk into the world’s first retail Linux store, Sub500.com, and walk out with a Linspire workstation for as little as $222. Over the last three years, the fraction of home and office PCs powered by Linux has roughly doubled, to almost 3 percent, and it’s set to double again before the end of 2005, according to market research firm IDC. Linux’s market share has already surpassed Apple’s, and every 1 percent gain for Linux sucks millions of dollars a year out of Microsoft’s revenues. Much of that money stays in the pockets of businesses and consumers.
The flowering of open source on the desktop seems certain to change the balance of power in personal computing. Linux’s availability is already driving price reductions—even for Windows machines—that are opening up computing and the Internet to millions around the world who would otherwise be unable to afford PCs. Inside businesses, open source is helping IT departments cope with today’s smaller budgets and freeing up money that can be reinvested in new technologies.
OpenOffice is a core reason for the ascension of the Linux desktop. Based on initially proprietary software that was later made open source by Sun, it includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation builder, and an image editor and has become one of the most popular open-source alternatives to Microsoft’s productivity software. The key feature of OpenOffice is that it behaves pretty much the same way users of Windows software would expect—which means that any number of people could, in principle, become Windows defectors the next time they or their companies buy new computers or upgrade aging software.
The folks at Redmond are clearly nervous Linux's potential in emerging markets. The move to offer a stripped-down version of XP is clearly an attempt to cover that flank. However, this version lets you run only 3 programs at a time and pricing details are not available yet. MS has got to be kidding if they think this strategy will work. They've got to find a way of offering a reasonable version of XP+Office for about 20 bucks if they want to grab market share. MS strategy folks are probably staring down the barrel. They know they need to grab the emerging markets of Asia for the continued success of the company in the OS business. Trouble is that noone in Asia seems in the mood to pay for monopoly rent, especially when a viable alternative called Linux exists. How this plays out will be fascinating to watch.
It had a respectable 1.6-gigahertz processor, a serviceable 40-gigabyte hard drive, a CD-ROM drive, an MP3 player, and enough other software to keep me occupied for life, though supporting it all was a barely adequate 128 megabytes of RAM.Rather than Windows and Office, it came with Linspire 4.5, one of the many commercial versions of the open-source Linux operating system that are now available, and a link to a website where I could download a variety of open-source applications.
True, Microsoft still commands 94 percent of the market for PC operating systems. But Linux is gaining fast. Software that gives a Linux machine the look, feel, and functions of a Windows PC is available both in free, unsupported versions and in souped-up commercial versions from a growing group of companies such as Novell, Red Hat, Sun Microsystems, and Lindows, the company that makes the Linspire system. In Toronto, customers can walk into the world’s first retail Linux store, Sub500.com, and walk out with a Linspire workstation for as little as $222. Over the last three years, the fraction of home and office PCs powered by Linux has roughly doubled, to almost 3 percent, and it’s set to double again before the end of 2005, according to market research firm IDC. Linux’s market share has already surpassed Apple’s, and every 1 percent gain for Linux sucks millions of dollars a year out of Microsoft’s revenues. Much of that money stays in the pockets of businesses and consumers.
The flowering of open source on the desktop seems certain to change the balance of power in personal computing. Linux’s availability is already driving price reductions—even for Windows machines—that are opening up computing and the Internet to millions around the world who would otherwise be unable to afford PCs. Inside businesses, open source is helping IT departments cope with today’s smaller budgets and freeing up money that can be reinvested in new technologies.
OpenOffice is a core reason for the ascension of the Linux desktop. Based on initially proprietary software that was later made open source by Sun, it includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation builder, and an image editor and has become one of the most popular open-source alternatives to Microsoft’s productivity software. The key feature of OpenOffice is that it behaves pretty much the same way users of Windows software would expect—which means that any number of people could, in principle, become Windows defectors the next time they or their companies buy new computers or upgrade aging software.
The folks at Redmond are clearly nervous Linux's potential in emerging markets. The move to offer a stripped-down version of XP is clearly an attempt to cover that flank. However, this version lets you run only 3 programs at a time and pricing details are not available yet. MS has got to be kidding if they think this strategy will work. They've got to find a way of offering a reasonable version of XP+Office for about 20 bucks if they want to grab market share. MS strategy folks are probably staring down the barrel. They know they need to grab the emerging markets of Asia for the continued success of the company in the OS business. Trouble is that noone in Asia seems in the mood to pay for monopoly rent, especially when a viable alternative called Linux exists. How this plays out will be fascinating to watch.
