[lug] Why Linux will win and Micro$oft will lose

[Hugh Brown]

My point on the metric system is that just because it is superior doesn't
mean that it will take over.  There something to be said about inertia.
Back when Windows was cheap there wasn't a whole lot of inertia to deal
with, it then took over the market because it was cheap, M$ is good at
marketing, and there wasn't much inertia.

Unfortunately, inertia in the computing world is extremely large. 

So economics is the driving factor but not the economics of "Linux is cheap
to get"

About metric, the system is free (just like Linux), but it is costly to
convert to (just like Linux can be).

For now, I continue to advocate Linux, eschew windows in the workplace and
watch to see what happens.

I would love for Linux to take over, but it won't be as quick as all that,
especially if M$ is successful in making the platform irrelevant (.Net,
etc.)

Hugh

"David"
> 
> > So why is it that the US still doesn't use the metric system.  It's free,
> > it makes more sense, it's easier to use, etc.
> 
> Once I was told, by a fairly respectable source, that the reason
> America ("they" I suppose) decided not to adopt the A1, A2,... B1,
> B2,... paper size system was indeed the cost of converting.
> Apparently, the standardization benefits were not deemed to be worth
> the (enormous) cost.  There are other examples too, that I shall not
> give in the interest of brevity.  The point, which was something of an
> eye-opener for me, is that, when you look beneath the surface of some
> "obvious" action, you find that economics is the, non-obvious, driver.
> 
> I am european in origin and have lived here and there for extended
> periods.  My personal opinion is that, *in ordinary life*, the metric
> system offers nothing whatsoever as an advantage over a time-wrought,
> practical system.  Temperature scale is a good example.  Here is one
> question: have you ever considered that 0-100 on the Fahrenheit scale
> is a very good approximation to the range of temperatures we see in
> life?
> 
> Sorry Hugh, but I totally diagree with the blanket nature of your
> assertion.  In my experience, in everyday life, the metric system is
> not free (to convert to), it usually does not make more sense, and is
> not easier to use.
> 
> In technical arenas, particularly the hard sciences, I take just the
> opposite view: the metric system is vastly and obviously better.
> Perhaps that is what you meant, but that intention is not clear.
> 
> There was a posting in the last week or two from someone who had
> persuaded his boss to go Linux; my recollection is that the cost of
> 130 (?) licences was one of a just a few factors mentioned.
> 
> I suspect that the original poster will turn out to be dead right,
> and for this key reason that he gave.
> 
> dajo