Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 01:59:48 -0500 From: lists <lists@vivdev.com> To: "Ted Mittelstaedt" <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: RE: FreeBSD & GNU Message-ID: <v04003a02b6e33f2a9b08@[192.168.1.100]> In-Reply-To: <002d01c0b4eb$82136fc0$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com> References: <v04003a00b6e303167e9a@[192.168.1.100]>
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Ted - >discussion. The problem with single-source standardization (or >institutionalizing, as it's called) is that once the market has standardized >on a single-source, that source normally has absolutely no incentive to >continue to improve and upgrade their product, ie: make it better, stronger, >faster. > OK, but how would anyone take control of the source in the case of FreeBSD? In the case if FreeBSD, the source is a bunch of volunteers? > >In the history of marketing, there's never been a single source supplier >that has lasted for more than a blink of an eye, just due to this issue. Maybe. How about Ma Bell? Didn't die due to lack of standardization. Died when the monopoly, which was underpinned by protected proprietary technology, was dismantled. >The computer market >for mid-level server software has followed this same path. In the past, the >market institutionalized "big iron" software like VMS from DEC, and when >Vomit Making System began to stagnate, they rejected it and turned to UNIX >servers. Then, the UNIX server market stagnated and they rejected it and >turned to Novell NetWare 386. Then NetWare stagnated and they turned to >Windows NT. > >Now, Windows NT/2K is starting to stagnate and the market is beginning to >turn back to UNIX for mid-level server software. In 5-10 years, UNIX will >have ascended and be institutionalized and, if the past is any guide, it >will start stagnating again, and someone else's server software will make an >entrance. And, so it goes. What you are describing is a situation where one proprietary product has reached it's market potential and then is outmoded by a newer, more competitive product. I don't see how this supports your argument. Also, in the space you are describing, shouldn't there be sun and hp machines? How do these offerings mix? The other thing is that the UNIX they are turning to now includes Linux and BSD, doesn't it? Btw, what is the status of vanilla UNIX? Is NT a dominant player in that market? Seemed late to the party, not better, and frequently to disappoint it's customers. [big snip] >start seeing Windows penetration figures drop from the mid 90% down to 60% >within a year. Agreed, but I think that if the court had ordered, for some reason, that microsoft make public its source, it would have been doom for microsoft, specifically because developers could bolt the fold en masse and start their own low-overhead, bloatware-creaming windows lookalikes, thereby making a pot of dough exploiting the numerous weaknesses of the behemoth OS, and fragmenting the market. This would indeed be the end of microsoft as we know it. Next thing you know, it'd be WINUX.org and FreeWIN, or some such cabal running the show. By contrast, I don't think that the fact that the small box market happens to be dominated by intel cpu's represents a similar problem, since you can, if you are willing to go to the trouble, boot other stuff on their chip. In this case, you have a standardized architecture, but the results can vary widely. Returning to software, aren't the variant forms of commercial linux supply examples of a business model that uses the standardized software and hardware to it's advantage in pursuing a very different business model? And couldn't you argue that yahoo, for example, has created a massive OS and suite of apps that are recognizable yet unique based on FreeBSD? Btw, what _does_ amazon run on? Microsoft's two main sources of revenue to this day are windows and office. Without the ability to make products that are un-knockoffable due to proprietary information that is not shared with third party (competitive) developers, they would have _no means_ of enforcing their agreements with Dell and others. thanks, chris lists@vivdev.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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