The mind boggles......
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Ridcully Jul 27, 2014 8:30 AM EDT |
Okay.......the UK has only mandated use of open document formats, not the use of either Libre Office or Apache Open Office.....but users are soon going to realise that both those packages are fully compliant with open document formats and are free. They DON'T need Microsoft software any more. If one French town can save a million euros, the mind boggles at just how much could be saved by the government if all of the UK shifts its desktops to Libre Office or Open Office where possible (ie where desktops are not tied to Windows dependent software). One can watch and hope ?? |
| seatex Jul 27, 2014 12:13 PM EDT |
This is a great development for open standards adoption, and I too am watching and hoping the waves of influence cross the pond to the US. |
| 750 Jul 28, 2014 4:52 PM EDT |
There i a reason why MS bends over backwards to stop it whenever a alternative to Windows or Office seems poised to grab mindshare. Just look at the about face they had with Windows XP when Linux powered netbooks picked up steam. XP was at that time scheduled for retirement, as Vista was launched. But Vista could not run on the limited hardware of netbooks. They give Apple a pass because Apple do not do "cheap". MS depends on cheap for their "total cost of ownership" argument when marketing to corporations. Not because of the hardware, but because of the mindshare. Their can argue that current and future employees will be familiar with Windows and Office basics from having used them on cheap home computers. As such, corporation do not need to spend as much on training etc. But if Linux replace Windows on cheap computers, MS is in a marketing bind. |
| Ridcully Jul 28, 2014 7:19 PM EDT |
@750.....Like many others, I am a little more confident about a change occurring this time. Commercial power, as you so correctly summarise above, is quite able to force compliance in a flock of "sheeples" (people acting like unthinking sheep and following the line of least resistance) and I think that is why Microsoft has gotten away with it so far. However from what I can see, the "sheeples" are now becoming much more educated about their options (blame the internet for that, you know....the "thing" that Bill Gates implied would never succeed). As a result, commercial power is now hitting a very unpleasant and solid brick wall of "informed people power" and the "sheeples" are beginning to bite the hand that has fed them insecure, poorly engineered software garbage. The ground swell of Linux is growing hourly and you can partly blame Android for that, but also organisation after organisation in Europe is discovering the enormous savings that can be made by moving either to Linux or to ODF.....French police and Munich spring to mind, and now Toulouse and the UK......These aren't little "signs" to Microsoft; they are in fact enormous sign posts pointing the way to a much cheaper, less restrictive and far more innovative and open future in IT, without Microsoft..... I am NOT surprised Microsoft is in near panic over smartphones and pads. Every bit of info I am getting says the younger generation will NOT touch Windows based items with a barge pole. Linux (or Android) shines brightly now and Redmond can't turn the clock back. It's no longer "if" as far as I am concerned; Microsoft IS in a marketing bind......the kids don't want its products. |
| gus3 Jul 29, 2014 12:20 PM EDT |
The hipsters want Apple iStuff. The rest want something that works. Windows' history isn't exactly stellar in that regard. |
| BernardSwiss Jul 29, 2014 8:15 PM EDT |
> The hipsters want Apple iStuff. The rest want something that works. Windows' history isn't exactly stellar in that regard. I sometimes wonder whether I would have switched mostly to Apple/Mac stuff, or stayed with Windows, if I hadn't stumbled across Linux when I did. (It wouldn't have been a question of hipster coolness, but fitness for task vs. price.) |
| Bob_Robertson Jul 30, 2014 8:59 AM EDT |
I worked at Apple in 1992, got to use all the neat and gnarly Mac stuff, got pretty good at mucking with the icon resources and such. Then I got work using SunOS and SPARC, and what a difference! Where the Mac felt like smooth fiberglass, all looks and no substance, this UNIX-like thing was steel girders and atomic engines. Not pretty, but efficient and effective. Everything was right there where I could see it, too. Everything. If I'd been someone who liked surface looks, makeup, fancy cars, Rolexes, and so on, I guess a Mac would have appealed to me more. |
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