----- Original Message ----- From: "Ed Wilts" <ewilts@xxxxxxxxxx> To: <redhat-list@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2003 4:36 PM Subject: Re: OS Desktop Business Model? > On Sat, Oct 04, 2003 at 06:28:16PM -0300, Herculano de Lima Einloft Neto wrote: > > Given that most of Microsoft's profit comes from the desktop, I'm wondering: > > if Linux, as I see it, is on its way to becoming a complete, competitive > > desktop system, would this money simply cease to flow? Is there any model at > > sight for profitable Desktop distros? It looks like RedHat has given up on > > that.. > > What makes you think that Red Hat has given up on the desktop? There is > the current RHEL WS line although I will agree that for the home user, > this doesn't compete with Windows for pricing. > > I believe that we will soon see Red Hat make a push back into the SOHO > market with a new boxed product that will be very competitive against > Windows (financially)... It would not surprise me to see a big push > into other markets with this product with large bulk discounts. > > .../Ed > > p.s. I think that most of Microsoft's profit comes from Office, not > Windows. I heard a few years that if Office broke off and was a company > by itself, it would have an annual revenue of $4B. > > -- > Ed Wilts, Mounds View, MN, USA > mailto:ewilts@xxxxxxxxxx > Member #1, Red Hat Community Ambassador Program > > IMHO, putting Gnome and KDE toy desktops with Linux is a mistake in an effort to try and draw Windows users away from windows. Gnome and KDE look SO amatureish and unprofessional. Even XFCE which looked a lot like CDE has started to look like Gnome. CDE is the most professional desktop I've seen on linux, and RedHat stopped packaging that with their product many versions ago. Seems it was 5.x when I had that. Until linux decides on a professional looking desktop, they won't be able to win over Windows users. Doing a desktop is no easy task, and thousands of hard hours have gone into KDE and Gnome, but they just LOOK cheesy....like they're marketed towards 12 year olds instead of being clean and professional. Give me CDE as stable, clean, and professional looking as it does on a Sun Solaris platform and I'll dump my windows boxes. My RedHat server works great for my DNS, Mail, and Apache server, but I don't have to look at that stupid Gnome desktop either. Linux is superior to Solaris and HP-UX due to it's ease of configurability with it's gui's, now contract with Xi Graphics for their DeXtop CDE desktop and integrate that into RedHat, or become partners with the OpenGroup.org people for the licensing and do it themselves, and I think at a reasonable price and marketed correctly with Openoffice, they'll have a desktop that competes hands down with Windows. Just my opinion, and it's worth what you paid for it......ZERO. JEFFREY WIMMER -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:redhat-list-request@xxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
