http://www.stevesoutfit.com/

Sorry. I just came back from a Mac-less vacation. Catching up with everything has made me a little cranky. And Steve Jobs’ glasses. License those too.

They might, indeed.

I agree that Ubuntu gets far more hype than it deserves. And the Linux fanboys at places like Slashdot seem to be “in a state of denial” about its many failings. I’m typing this on Kubuntu 7.04 right now, and I’d far sooner be on my Mac. What user who actually knew both platforms wouldn’t? But I don’t know that I find K/U-buntu is conspicuously inferior to Windows in general use. I would say it’s now usable as a desktop solution (depending on what you want to do, of course). And it even has some definite advantages over Windows. Need one even mention security? Never been a problem for me on Windows, but I know plenty of people who’ve experienced the joys of malware.

We’ll see in time what the general public makes of it. But I was more interested in the attitude of the OEMs to it in that post there. I think there’s no doubt that equipment manufacturers would rather not “happily work to make Microsoft rich forever”. Solutions to that problem will become viable as time goes on, and I find it hard to believe that will *not* be a problem for Redmond.

I’ve been using linux (almost entirely as a server) for over a decade, and I’d rather chew on glass than use it as a desktop OS.

Especially for anyone who isn’t a Computer Geek like me, it’s a classic example of paying more in time and aggravation to save a little cash.

Unless your time is worthless, or, unlike the “average Joe user” you enjoy playing with unix for its own sake, linux just can’t compete in any vaguely serious way.

I don’t understand how Walt can say that Sony is only recently getting into software. What does he think is in the ROMs of all those Sony products that have been around for years?Firmware IS software. It’s just stored on a non-volatile medium.

You know and I know that firmware is software in its most general sense, but even in the industry it is considered to fall in the “hardware” side of things. What that has to do with TFA other than cheap point scoring I don’t know.

If more value-added producers leave the platform than is gained by competing with them, the company loses. Or the products push out all indie products, then stagnate, which is also bad.

That’s only an issue if the value added producers add value to the platform rather than produce useless schlock. The real enemy is poor quality not competition. The indie developers have gotten better and more numerous on the Mac platform since Apple started competing with them, because Apple raises the bar in software (unlike Sony which probably develops crappy firmware if their user-visible software is any guide).

“Microsoft also faced the cancer eating at its basic business plan: the absurd idea that third party PC makers were going to happily work to make Microsoft rich forever.”

As we know, Dell is about to introduce a range of PCs with Ubuntu Linux on. HP is looking into a similar offering. Already we’ve reached the point where end users will not simply hand over hundreds of dollars to get new versions of Windows boxed at a store. Now that the OEM helots are beginning to revolt, Microsoft surely has a problem on its hands.

Apple’s basic business plan, contrary to what the wiseacres have been saying for years, is looking like it might be a better long term bet.

Sorry. Zune iDesktop!

Firmware IS software. It’s just stored on a non-volatile medium.

I suspect Sony hires some software contractors, but there’s no way that Sony contracts out ALL their firmware development.

So maybe what Walt means is that Sony is now doing some VISIBLE software development, i.e. making software products separate from their hardware products. In other words, Sony has decided to compete directly with their value-added developer base. Just like Microsoft’s Zune did with their value-added Plays-for-sure base. And obviously Apple does this with certain software products that compete with its developer base (e.g. Time Machine competes with all the backup-software and backup-service providers).

What’s still an open question is whether Sony or Microsoft can be successful at these ventures. If more value-added producers leave the platform than is gained by competing with them, the company loses. Or the products push out all indie products, then stagnate, which is also bad.

It may be amusing for pundits to speculate, but I’m just going to wait and see.