[OT] Free software versus software idea patents

[Westley Martínez]

On Tue, 2011-04-12 at 04:22 -0500, harrismh777 wrote:
> Ian Kelly wrote:
> >> >  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.
> 
>      This is very difficult... and I'm not dodging the ball here... its 
> just the truth. The 'market share' data are bogus. Reason? ... because 
> the free software 'market' is not a market. It is not measured in any 
> way, and it is almost impossible to determine therefore in any accurate 
> fashion. There really are no data... what we need here is a census of sorts.
>      Here is an anecdote for you... our tax prep this year was done 
> on-line via Firefox. We use software through a large and well-known tax 
> company which for this purpose supports *only* Firefox 3.6 or higher... 
> go figure. Is not that interesting..?   I know, just an anecdote.
>      Here is another anecdote for you.... the university is supporting 
> *only* Firefox for Moodle and Blackboard usage... very interesting. 
> Well, since most students are carrying a Mac Book, and the rest are 
> running Ubuntu, they really cannot support *only* IE can they?  They are 
> supporting one browser, and Firefox got the job. I know, just an anecdote.
> 
>      IE is dead. It is flat dead... almost nobody is using it...
> 
>      The market data are worthless in this discussion, because free 
> software and free software platforms are not measured in the 'market'. 
> Please allow me one more anecdote... I have purchased several machines 
> over the last ten years... all of them preloaded with Windows 
> (something) and all of them running IE (something).  NONE of those 
> machines ever saw the light of day as "Windows" machines. I purchased 
> the hardware *only* recovered my cost on the M$ license, and quickly 
> loaded my linux system of choice... and I've used them all, believe me.
>      The point here is that the 'market' data would show that my 
> machines were purchased, installed, and running... activated even. But 
> the truth is that *Best Buy* activated them, not me, and Microsoft is 
> claiming that I am using their popular operating system (which I'm not) 
> and the market data shows Microsoft doing so well in the Desktop market. 
> The truth is something quite different. I am not and have not used 
> Microsoft products for over 12 years now. (not at all)   And, all of my 
> systems today are running *only* free software (not even kernels with 
> 'blobs' in them). I use only free (as in freedom) software on all of my 
> systems (Desk and server) as does my *entire* family (well, I influenced 
> them, of course).
> 
>      I read in the blogs today that Microsoft is now claiming that 
> Windows 7 has 39% market share...   SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM  I don't 
> like SPAM !   ... just eggs and ham...    Give me a break !!!   I don't 
> even know one person who has Win7 installed, running, and likes it... 
> not even one.  Where is all this 39% market share...??  Probably the 
> numbers from *Best Buy* on preloads... that get reloaded... or 
> corporations that buy bulk preloads, and then reload their images over 
> the top...
> 
> <sigh>
> 
> kind regards,
> m harris
> 
> 
> 
> 

The pre-builts from Best Buy that get reloaded, reloaded with what?  I
live in California, the center of software development.  I only know one
person who uses Linux, and they only use it for work (he doesn't even
live in CA anymore).  I have say your delusions about the use of free
software are somewhat hilarious.