On Mon, 24 May 2004 08:10:35 -0500 "Benjamin J. Weiss" <benjamin@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > True, but that's because the public perceived a significant improvement in > value. There wasn't enough percieved improvement in value from VHS to Beta, > so even though it was a superior format, most people didn't switch. Where > is it now? I can still go down to Blockbuster and rent a VHS tape, but not > a Beta. I'd hate for Linux to suffer the same fate as Betamax. And that's exactly the problem with trying to convert Windows users to Linux today in large numbers. What is grandma going to like better about Linux over Windows? The point is we have to concentrate on making Linux _really_ better so that people can perceive vast superiority. > DVD had many benefits over VHS. Better quality picture, you don't have to > rewind, you can watch a bunch of times without degrading the movie, you get > lots of featurettes, etc. That's why it succeeded, because the user saw all > of the cool new things that they would get. They don't care about the > under-the-hood stuff on how the laser works, or what the file format is, and > they sure don't want to have to re-program the DVD player every six months. Correct. We have to keep making Linux good enough so that we're not just Betamax. We'll never convert the masses unless there is a compelling reason. Say you convert all those proprietary formats over to Linux, well then.... why should anyone use Linux? They already work on Windows. What is your value proposition? We must concentrate on building on the real strength of Linux and not get lost in pandering to Windows users of today. > Don't get me wrong. I love linux. I just don't want to see Bill Gates do > to us what he did to OS/2 (which was also superior to Windows). OS/2 didn't have a fundamental difference from Windows. Just implementation details. Linux _is_ different. As long as we don't lovingly make it irrelevant by forgetting why it is so important in the first place. Cheers, Sean
