On Fri, 30 Jul 2010, Hodges, Robert CTR USAF AFMC 520 SMXS/MXDEC wrote:
The Windows family counts for almost 90%:
Not in academia, it doesn't.
Right - that's the missing 10%, mostly made up of acedamia and the entertainment industry.
Walk outside into the real world (which you eventually will, like it or not), however, and UNIX/MacOS/Linux systems virtually disappear.
40 years of UNIX, 20 years of Linux, and 10 years of MacOSX have failed to produce a combined market share greater than 9%, which has been flatlined for over a decade.
Only 1 out of 10 people want/need to use it.
But that doesn't mean that those 9% of computer users shouldn't be accomodated, particularly by their fellows. I would also argue that deliberately reinforcing that 90% market share (used to be higher) is not in the interest of anybody but Microsoft and its "partners". I have no interest in turning this discussion into an debate over MS, but the computer industry suffers not from too much competition, but too little.
Understand that while the vast majority of computer users use Windows, many others prefer other systems and are willing to sacrifice a considerable amount of convenience to do so. This is a feature, not a bug.
--------------------------| John L. Ries | Salford Systems | Phone: (619)543-8880 x107 | or (435)867-8885 | --------------------------|
-----Original Message----- From: gpc-owner@gnu.de [mailto:gpc-owner@gnu.de] On Behalf Of Kevan Hashemi Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 11:20 AM To: Prof. Harley Flanders Cc: Frank Heckenbach; gpc@gnu.de Subject: Re: Quo vadis, GPC?
Dear Harley,
The Windows family counts for almost 90%:
Not in academia, it doesn't. Here at Brandeis University, there are more
students with Apple lap-tops than Windows lap-tops. There are more and more students using Linux in preference to Windows. Yesterday I wiped another Windows drive and my student installed Ubunto. We're sick of Windows.
Only when you get into the vast realm of coporate America do you come across 90% Windows, and those people don't use the kind of software we're writing. They are still using XP because they are stuck with it from all their custom-made software packages from ten years ago.
I suspect that your 90% statistic does not apply to the GPC programmer's
customers. In the long run, it could be that Windows, being a costly operating sytem, is going to die. Indeed, it is my belief that it will. Everywhere in the Physics community, Linux and MacOS are taking over.
Yours, Kevan
-- Kevan Hashemi, Electrical Engineer Physics Department, Brandeis University http://alignment.hep.brandeis.edu/