On Wed, Mar 27, 2002 at 08:37:24PM -0600, Shawn Fertch wrote: > On 27 Mar 2002 19:08:30 -0600 > "Samir M. Nassar" <nassarsa at redconcepts.net> wrote: > > > MS Office, is actually a pretty decent package. Bloated yes, resource > > heavy, yes, but it runs like it should, it is used world-wide and it is > > multilingual. For example,. the Health Work Committees in Palestine can > > switch from Spanish to Arabic to English to German fairly easily with MS > > Word. > > > I can see where you're going. However, like I was saying I would > rather see a full product that is strictly Linux be developed. If MS > can do it in a "closed shop" environment, why can't thousands or > millions of open source people come up with an app that does the same > thing? You seem to be overlooking the fact that M$ already wields monopoly power in the relevant market [1] [2]. Knocking out the OS portion of Microsoft's monopoly could go a long way toward breaking its iron grip on the desktop, and thereby create a lot of breathing room for linux. In addition, the CrossOver Server should eventually be a big hit, because companies will be able to stop paying big $$$$ per year to Microsoft and Citrix just so they can remotely run software they already own on Windows. You may also be interested to learn that, as suggested by Codeweavers CEO Jeremy White [3], WINE plans to adopt a copyleft style license [4]. Joel 1. http://www.albion.com/microsoft/ 2. http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/ 3. http://www.winehq.com/hypermail/wine-devel/2002/02/0089.html 4. http://www.winehq.com/hypermail/wine-devel/2002/02/0659.html -- WINE - Wine Is Not an Emulator http://www.winehq.com/ http://wine.codeweavers.com/