It has to be Linux or BSD....or something, just get rid of Windows. 12

DFS And apparently you can't read, either. Maybe this explainsyour animosity towards Linux... It does require the user to read quite a bit, and since you appear to be lacking such a critical skill...

Most of the sane estimates I've seen have been putting Linux hitting critical mbutt at around 2008 (give or take a year). However, I've only been paying attention for the last 5 years.

They can't drop it 90%, which is what it would take.

I don't think so. Their product is inferior, and they would no longer be able to sustain their strongarm tactics with such a price war going on. Without their their monopoly would collapse. They cannot survive without the insane margins they take in off those two products, and only because they're sold in conjunction. Remove any of these elements and you'll see Microsoft be reduced to an Apple-like state in 3 or 4 years.

At $500, yes. At $800 it's cheaper to build it yourself. A lot cheaper.

Linux isn't in the same situation at all. These companies don't move anyhwere near the volume that Microsoft does. If Linux were in the position Microsoft is in right now (E.G 'in the same situation') the cost would be around $15 or $20. Are you capable of analysing data in the context it's presented? Or so you just think "Ungh; see cheep, cheep bad!"

Which has nothing to do with the issue at hand. Nothing seems to support your buttertion that 'OpenOffice will never compete with Microsoft Office'. There are two primary reasons companies still use Microsoft Office. The first reason is: They have it already, and it works well enough. The second reason is: Everyone else already has it, so we should too. There's no technical reason for it. It's horribly expensive compared with OOo, and offers nothing for it. It's this corporate mob mindset that keeps Microsoft Office dominant. However, this *is* changing. Companies *are* looking at it, and some are even making the jump. Today. When *enough* companies are willing to make this leap, there will be enough 'mindshare support' for the second reason (and since you have trouble with reading comprehension, that means 'second reason to use Microsoft Office') to no longer be valid. This is what is known as 'critical mbutt' when using the term in relation to computing platforms-products.

In your opinion. Mine differs.

No it's not. I use two others on a daily basis. Up until recently I was using them more often than I did 'the one platform'. Once I get a wireless bridge, I'll be using 'th eother platforms' more often than I do 'the one platform', because they're much better.

Like what? I can't think of any. Being fully cross-platform is a lot more important than such miniscule time savings.

And it's less than 10 if you know what your doing with python. That's was a very conservative estimate.

In your opinion. I seriously disagree.

Yes, price is a huge part of what platform companies choose to use for their products.

But Python is a very capable RAD language ('VB replacement'). Fast, easy to work with, and extensible as all hell.

Not really. I'm using OOo today, and don't plan on going back to Microsoft Office.

An 'Hell' is using Microsoft products in place of their cheaper and superior alternatives.

How do you figure? They don't like dropping several hundred dollars a seat for basic functionality. Neither do they enjoy Microsoft's strongarm tactics used to lock them into it.

WordStar and WordPerfect were both as entrenched as Microsoft Office is today. See where they are now?

At that point there will be enough support for alternatives to crumble their domination of the corporate mindshare.

They were bigger. And actually produced a decent product.

IBM, Amazon, Novell, Autozone, Daimler-Chrylser...

Well, I did buttume these companies would like a graphical user interface on their desktops--and for Longhorn to actually *install*. I might be mistaken in this buttumption, but it seemed reasonable to me.

No, I'm thinking adoption rates will skyrocket. It'll take several years after that for the userbase to switch over. But it will be the point where Microsoft will no longer hold a monopoly.

They initially planned to have the migration done by *2006*, it was never supposed to be instant. Because of the software patent snafu, we're probably going to see it done in 2007.