2008 4
Why Less Developed Countries go for Linux
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
I love Linux, Ubuntu, for work and at Fon we use Ubuntu, and I also love Mac for my personal computing. But I strongly dislike Windows. So for me to read that in countries like Brazil, Microsoft products cost double of what they cost in the US when income is around 10% just makes me wonder. Why would anyone pay for Microsoft when Ubuntu is free and much more robust, easier to use and less likely to fail. I don´t get it.
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Jan on May 4, 2008 ·
it’s just about sales and standards.
i live in Korea and i use both XP and Mac. i tried to change to mac completely but it’s impossible in an environment where developers don’t support Mac – so e.g. no way i can do internet banking on my Mac…
Paul RODTS on May 4, 2008 ·
I use Linux Xandros and other open source software like OpenOffice. No problem in Europe and in this way I can use older computers to work with. With Microsoft I got storage capacity problems… Only problem is that when I send OpenOffice attachments to most of my friends in countries like Ethiopia, they don’t know how to open the files… I still have to translate them into Microsoft files… Most of my African friends don’t trust Linux and they “follow the leader”… Wonder why ?
One guy said to me : “What we give to Bill Gates, he gives us back in future when we need it…What is Linux doing to help us when we need it ?”.. It’s a different way of thinking, I think Bill is part of their family…
Amir on May 5, 2008 ·
It’s all about marketing. There are much worse examples of seemingly illogical decision: cigarettes, carbonated drinks and so many more…
Haim Ac. on May 5, 2008 ·
Why Windows? =>It’s a world standard!
Why not Ubuntu? =>Zero support. You can not install any peripheral if you are not a computer geek. Linux is for experts only.
Haim
Javier on May 6, 2008 ·
Haim,
There’s a company which offers support, maintenance, etc. for open source software: http://www.spikesource.com . I don’t know if what they’re offering will suit you, but it’s definitely worth a look. They offer the flexibility and low prices of open source with the reliability, support, etc. of proprietary software, or so they claimed when I heard about them.
Javier
Matin on May 7, 2008 ·
To your question Martin, I don’t think people in less developed countries do pay for Windows…they get it for free or dirt cheap. You can buy MS Windows in Tehran for about a $1, and the installation CD is already setup (hacked) to support Persian, which MS doesn’t support.
Why more people don’t use Linux? Familiarity, compatibility, and a false perception that Linux is only for niche markets.
Marco Bressan on May 9, 2008 ·
I don’t understand this obsession about whether Windows, Mac or Linux. I have the three of them at home and spend each day more of my time on Firefox. Sooner or later we will laugh at the time when we had to fight with kernels, drivers and compatibility issues. As stated by Carr (and by Sun already 20 years ago), its only a matter of time until thin clients leased to end users and working on top of a utility computing framework replace the the PC paradigm. And the first place this will happen will be in the less developed countries.
Hei on October 22, 2008 ·
I am a mac user in Hong Kong
usually my friends will ask me y I hv to use mac
In fact most of them didnt use mac be4
their concept is:Mac is not user friendly,It is hard to use
They will think about this because of everyone is using windows
no one use mac so they have a wrong concept that mac is harder to use compare to windows
Many people they still supporting windows because windows still the standard of computer. More than 90% of computer have install windows
So…most of them dont want to try to change.They dont want to learn a new OS.
I know a girl,she brought a macbook and she never use macOS cus she can install windows inside.everyone in Hong Kong is lazy to accept new stuff…
btw,The only advantage of windows is they can install games and more software.That’s all.
p.s.I havn’t use Linux be4 …so i cant give comment to Linux
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Pablo on May 4, 2008 ·
Me, neither.
I use OSX86 (hacked leopard) and Ubuntu. I’m gonna buy a mac this summer (so I thing this hacking leopard thing it’s helping Apple more than harming it).
Anyway, it’s been some time since I don’t use Windows, and I don’t feel like I’m gonna go back any time soon (at least for myself, I will have to use it when I start working, I’m aware of that).
Like you said in a previous post, with windows you feel at war on the internet. Spyware, Virus, etc. I just don’t see why it’s worth to have windows.
Back to the topic, if you know why OpenXML is becoming a standard, you know why less developed countries use windows instead of linux.