RE: On Compatibility

[Christopher Nelson]

>    I work in a building with over 200 people.
> 
> My univ. is a building with aprox 1000 people, exlcuding students.
> All use Emacs.

>    As far as multi-user systems, they generally operate as servers.
>    There are a few places where people still use dumb terminals with a
>    VT-100 intepreter for everything, but every office in every country
>    I've done work in uses PC's connected to file and print servers.
> 
> Every _big_ building uses something akin to a dumb terminal 
> (usual crap like SunRay's or what not that can handle X 
> sessions remotley) since maintaining 300 something PC's is a 
> nightmare.

Then that is an extremely unusual situation.  I do some work with the
local school system, which is hundreds of people, and the local library
system, another several hundred people, and they ALL use PC's.  I have
friends who work for large companies like SunGard, and not only do they
not use dumb terminal's, many of the engineers generally have two
systems: a PC for work and a notebook for on-call.  

Maintaining several hundred PC's can be a pain, but it's certainly
doable.  Anyway, my point is not the pain of administering PC's, but the
fact that single-user PC's are the rule and not the exception.
 
>    That's why every major computer dealer bundles some Office suite
>    with their computers.  That's why MS produces Office.
> 
> I fail to see what non-free software has to do with anything.

The point is that if people didn't buy it, they wouldn't make it.  And
if people didn't buy A LOT of it, MS wouldn't make it.  Economies of
scale.
 
>    It's a HUGE cash cow.  That's why the whole OASIS OpenDoc thing is
>    such a big deal too.
> 
> No, it isn't, the reason why it is a huge deal is because of freedom.

Sure, freedom for users to do what?  Do their work. Edit their
documents.  Someone stands to make or lose a LOT of money, because using
those kinds of apps is WHAT PEOPLE DO.  Massachussetts (a state in the
US) passed a LAW requiring OpenDoc because editing docs is such a big
deal.

> 
>    As far as "installed by default", if it's not, then the average
>    user won't use it.
> 
> FireFox isn't installed by default, for some odd reason a lot 
> of people use it...  Which contradicts your statement quite badly.

That's a good counter example, but consider the amount of money and
effort that has gone into making (a) users aware of that alternative and
(b) making it easy to get and install.  FireFox is exceptional in that
way, but it still proves the point: you run FireFox on a PC.  

-={C}=-