[OT] Free software versus software idea patents

[Ian Kelly]

On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 6:04 PM, harrismh777 <harrismh777 at charter.net> wrote:
> The deal with motive number (2) is that there are fewer and fewer teams who
> are concerned with interoperability. For instance (my team), we moved our
> stuff to gnulinux based systems and dumped Microsoft completely... we have
> no need for them at all (they're dead). The Linux Foundation president made
> a splash the other day by saying that bashing Microsoft was like kicking a
> puppy (the server cloud war is over, and Microsoft lost... big). The desktop
> is all that is left... and that is dying... rapidly. Their lockin is well
> entrenched (like Borg implants ) but the number of mom & pops ( like my
> entire extended family, for instance) who are moving to Ubuntu (themselves)
> is astounding! It will not be long and Microsoft will die... and none too
> soon.

So what is that number?  Anecdotes are unreliable; I would like to see
the actual data.  The only non-techie I personally know who uses Linux
is my wife, and she only uses it because it's what's installed at
home.  My brother-in-law was a Linux fan at one time but has
regressed.

>    IE is dead. It is flat dead... almost nobody is using it... not even
> die-hard Windows gaming fanboys... we're on our way to freedom.

I'm sorry, but that is patently false.  Just look at the actual data:

http://www.getclicky.com/marketshare/global/web-browsers/
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=0&qptimeframe=M#
http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201103-201103-bar
http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php?year=2011&month=3

Depending on the source, IE's market share is anywhere from 39% to
56%, and all of those sources list it higher than Firefox or any other
single browser.  To say "IE is dead" is either prevarication or
unsubstantiated wishful thinking.

Cheers,
Ian