[Am-info] query about MS "Innovations"

[Steve Cohen]

But the most important reason this wouldn't happen is
because the pressures are reversed.  Instead of a
pressure to switch to the dominant Microsoft
application, there is a pressure on all vendors not to
abuse the standards.  

In that environment deliberate creation of
incompatibilities brings marketplace disadvantage (as
it should).  Anyone who tried it would lose market
share, not gain it.  Only with a preexisting monopoly
is this a path to success.


--- "Eric M. Hopper" <hopper@omnifarious.org> wrote:
> On Fri, 2002-04-05 at 17:27, Felmon Davis wrote:
> > Perhaps your last question was overlooked? It's a
> worrisome thought: 
> > why exactly wouldn't 'open source' _also_ produce
> a 'mono-culture'?
> 
> There are a few reasons why this probably won't
> happen.
> 
> While many people run the same OS, most people have
> different personal
> choices about which applications they use for
> things.  There are no
> email clients in the Open Source world that get used
> by even 80% of
> people.  In the most major areas of functionality,
> each area has at
> least two projects targeting it.
> 
> Also, the pressure to upgrade to the exact same
> version as other people
> just isn't there.
> 
> Lastly, most cracks and exploits depend intimately
> on low level details
> of how programs run inside.  If you compile a
> package from source, you
> are likely to have a somewhat different layout of
> the data inside your
> copy of the package than someone else's. 
> Distributions like Red Hat
> encourage people not to compile their own sources,
> but no distribution
> has an iron grip on the world, or is likely to
> develop one.
> 
> Have fun (if at all possible),
> -- 
> The best we can hope for concerning the people at
> large is that they
> be properly armed.  -- Alexander Hamilton
> -- Eric Hopper (hopper@omnifarious.org 
> http://www.omnifarious.org/~hopper) --
> 
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