On Tuesday 17 July 2001 07:05, Barry Fitzgerald wrote:
Kent Nguyen wrote:
Even if 63% of all of the web servers out there are apache, these
servers - using .Net compatible services - could further leverage
Microsoft's position on the desktop by running Microsoft centric
architectures over Free Software. This it why dotGnu is the real
danger to Microsoft. Mono is a necessary component to some extent.
What about Microsoft passport customer based? Doesn't that attract
software developer to buy a specialize "security pack" to
interoperate
with passport?
--kent
Well, I think it's obvious that user marketshare is always an
issue when
considering what platform some developers will develop for - as
does an
already existing userbase. These are essentially one and the same.
However, I fail to see your point here. Yes, their marketshare is a
factor. So...???
Think about it this way. Let's say a user have a Microsoft
passport. He
uses email with his M$ passport, he uses it to check history of his
transactions on ebay, he uses it to view a word, excel, powerpoint
documents,
he uses it to view his .NET photo album, he uses it to pay his
utility, his
electricity, and everything bill, he uses it to play games, he uses
to use MS
messenger, and he uses to talk on the Internet.
Once the number of services grow, you won't be able to get people
to change
their "identity". The services they use define them. The user has no
incentive to switch to dotGNU when the Hailstorm ecosystem have all
the
services they want.
Let's carry this senerio further. The user will want to share
documents to
his friends. In order for his friends to view the document in .NET
Word, he
needs to setup a M$ passport. This friend sends the document to
another
friend, who will have to setup an M$ passport to view a .NET Word
document,
and so on. It becomes viral. This is worse than attaching a
simple message
of every outgoing email from a hotmail account saying "FREE private
email at
www.hotmail.com".
The Hailstorm ecosystem is like a virus, it will grow exponentially.
My question is how is dotGNU going to convince users to use its
system? What
is the incentive for user to use dotGNU? Is there a service
available in the
dotGNU environment that they need?
Here's another situation. Let's say I'm Microsoft. First I would
encourage
as many third parties develop on my .NET platform. At first I
won't compete
against them. I will help those third party developer out. Then
as more and
more developers become entrench. I'll just start bundling my service
together. One by one, I will slowly kill off the third party
developer and
monopolize the web service industry. I use this same tactic to
dominate the
desktop market.
--kent
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