Why Linux? Windows Is Free!
Posted on August 16, 2007 by Ben Cecka
I read a very interesting article published by a member of the Tokyo Linux Users Group titled, Windows Is Free. Basically, the author is saying that because Microsoft Windows can be pirated, it can be compared to Linux at the same price level. Since most Linux distributions are free, as in free beer, and Windows can be stolen at no cost, the two should be compared as equally valuable.
In respect to the entire article, which goes into much length, I will highlight two points:
- Windows doesn’t appear to have been pirated on the magnitude needed to sustain this argument. Look at the breakdown in this chart from a ZDNet article. You can see that they are showing about 32% of Windows installations as either not reporting, invalid, or other. Even if there wasn’t a single false-positive in the mix, if you take 32% off the top of the retail of Microsoft Windows they still don’t come off as giving their software away.
- Don’t assume that we like Linux more simply because it is free. For me, it’s just a bonus. I prefer Open-Source software because I can trust it. It has just as many quirks and bugs as For-Profit software does, but I can rest assured that it’s only doing what I expect under the hood of my computer.
In other words, having the ability to get something for free doesn’t equate to the product as actually being free.
Technorati Tags: linux, open-source, windows, free software
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