[Am-info] 30% (Geoffrey).

[Geoffrey]

Marcus de Geus wrote:
> 
> In reply to a message from "Geoffrey" <esoteric@3times25.net> dated 2001-12-17 09:36:28 -0500 (Mon):
> 
> > > It's not just the largest accounts. I read somewhere - forgot the source - that a recent poll showed 30% of PC users of all sizes are wishing for alternatives to MS OSes.
> > I wish you still had the source, as I find it very hard to believe that 30% of PC users even KNOW there are alternatives to MS oses...
> 
> Geoffrey,
> 
> Even if 100% of all PC users were totally convinced that WinDOS was the only OS ever made, it would not preclude 30% of them from wishing for an alternative.

I totally disagree.  Most people these days do not see a PC and the OS
as two things, therefore the thought of wishing for another OS would
never come to mind.

> 
> Even if 100% of all PC users were totally convinced that WinDOS was the only OS ever made, now and in the future, AND that it formed an integral and indivisible part of every PC ever made, now and in the future, it would not preclude 30% of them from wishing for an alternative.

Alternative tool, maybe, "alternative 'something they can't even define"
I very seriously doubt. 

> 
> One can wish for something one knows little or nothing about, to improve on the present situation. One can even wish for something one knows not to exist, as a result of discontent with the present situation.

You're stretching this whole discussion tremendously.  The original
post, I assure you was that 30% of PC users wanted an alternative OS.  I
still find that number terribly hard to believe.

> 
> So, assuming the 30% figure to be correct, and assuming the great majority of PC users to be WinDOS users unaware of the existence, or the qualities, of alternatives, this tells us something about the level of content with their OS of millions and millions of WinDOS users. Makes you wonder, eh?

Most PC users don't even know how lousy M$ OSs are, because they know
nothing else.  There are very few people who wonder what could be
better.  Just as there were very few people who wonder about electric
lights and horseless carriages.  The truly forward thinking are the ones
who come up with these thoughts and therefore these things we call
inventions.

> Regards,
> 
> Marcus de Geus
> --
> marcus@degeus.com
> http://www.degeus.com
> 
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--
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric@3times25.net

"...the system (Microsoft passport) carries significant risks to users
that
are not made adequately clear in the technical documentation available."
- David P. Kormann and Aviel D. Rubin, AT&T Labs - Research
- http://www.avirubin.com/passport.html