I felt it only logical to make this discussion a new thread. It appears
interesting. I suspect it wont be the first time it is discussed and I
do hope the Devs take such comparative discussions seriously.
That said, I'd like to start with a Quote from At0mic:
Aye. It's just that working in the "real world" as opposed to ranting on a
Linux forum showed me how far Linux and open-source has to go for even
making a dent in the monopoly Microsoft has on the corporate desktop. It
would be NICE of course if Libre/OpenOffice was used more, but it isn't, and
there isn't as yet much imputus to change.
Change, as constant as it is doesn't come easy for the majority. Habits
are hard to break even when proven wrong. Microsoft is both a majority
and a habit and it takes the daring and strong to be free. Linux and
open-source is not a place for lazy people. Change starts when enough
people question status-quo.
When I released this, I decided it's better to stop being so fanatical about
Linux and open-soruce and instead understand WHY people use things such as
Outlook so much, and I discovered it's because Microsoft are damn good at
finding out what their customers want. Implementation needs a little work
sometimes, but they aren't stupid.
That's a good one. Guess what people want? The want to get on with their
lives and really done care how the catalysts get created. So, it follows
that if they're already doing that with Option-A, they wont see reasons
to try Option-B even when Option-B may be more suitable for them. I
speak based on observations from my environs. People here use M$-Office
not because they know about exchange or cool features like automation.
They do so because they first knew M$-Office.
90% of these people cant understand serious formula syntaxes for Excel
or Calc. They are happy with Summations only or a few more basic stuff.
Guess what? I'm discussing business here not individuals. You and I
know that Calc will conveniently replace their pirated bloat-ware
(bloat-ware because they use less than half the features packed into it
... and worse, its a hacked product). These are the people who need
Calc and open-source products the most. They cant afford bloat-ware but
for some weird reason they just want the label -- "Hey, I know/use
M$-Office too" -- Its crazy
Like you said, Microsoft knows how to take advantage of their customer's
inclinations (its about the money eventually). These people are lazy so
'ease' matters. Implementation may not be so good underneath but who
cares ... they don't even see it. So they 'dope' the less enlightened
majority with 'ease' while they tidy up on the hidden mess gradually.
It works because changing the majority's collective choice later will be
harder when the habit is formed.
Here is another example: For instance, I have been porting a tool I
developed for 'easing' the pain of fellow lecturers in creating
grade/result sheets at our University. It was written for Excel 2003 in
VBA. It was relatively 'easier' to develop compared to my route in
LibreOffice (well that, because I chose a different language. BASIC
would have been much the same ... probably). My discovery is that
developing extensions for LibreOffice is W.O.R.K!
What is the advantage? The developer is made more aware of the internal
workings of LibO. What is the loss? Time! The curve is much more and
someone who wants to get going is already gone. So the 'ease' concept
sells again for macro developers in M$ world but that doesn't make for
better/experienced 'black-belt' developers in the long run (... yeah, I
can hear you almost say 'who cares!').
Getting LibO into offices around here means presenting it first before
M$ products find their way into those machines. Then the users will
never try M$ again even with all the vanilla coatings they come with
--OR-- You induce the change by providing 'ease' in form of Extensions
in LibO and install libO with those for those businesses then carefully
silence M$ products. They wont even miss it. I do that here because
those M$ products are pirated anyway. It just makes them more honest
business men (lol!). I bet they wont consider M$ again when they're
told to PAY FOR THE REAL THING!
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