http://networking.ittoolbox.com/news/dispnews.asp?i=105191
Article pointing out that as Microsoft products become incrasingly expensive and obtrusive in the application of user verification measures, Linux looks more attractive as an OS alternative. The big block to this is that people want to use the same software at home as they do at the office [and since this represents a valuable form of free self-improvement, as an office manager I would go out of my way to encoursge this], and Linux has not made a big corporate desktop entry yet.
One possibility would be the development of a critical mass of home users who could demand Linux in the workplace and have the numbers to back them up. One of the major attractions to Windows in the past was its lack of copy protection which made home users [most of whom, let's face it, are not going to pony up $500 for a copy of OFFICE] able to use the same software at home and in the office. If this conncection is broken, it puts Microsoft's corporate position at considerable risk.
Which suggests, more than ever, that Microsoft's draconian pursuit of every possible purchase may be ultimately self-defeating.
Posted by jho at November 22, 2003 11:25 AM