Proprietary platforms and you. 319
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They get support from elsewhere - Usenet, mailing lists, etc. - just like the vast majority of Linux users who have no corporate support or toll-free numbers or email addresses. Or they're stuck with that last version, whether it's Windows NT 4.0 or TurboLinux 8.0 (or whoever - I don't know any Linux vendors who "quit" the business, but I'm sure there are some).
Should Microsoft go under, or otherwise stop supporting it, how do you plan on activating a copy of Windows XP? It's almost a good thing SCO sued. Once they are creamed in court...
Linux companies included.
For a firm like MS or Symantec, many other companies would buy their buttets and choose to continue or discontinue the products. Windows is far, far too valuable an buttet to ever be removed from sale; the government would step in and purchase it as a last resort, I would think.
No better or worse off than we are now. I've never depended on MS for of response, but I get faster, more thorough, and often more knowledgeable support from Usenet newsgroups.
As will Windows. As long as I have my Win2000 disk on my shelf, Windows lives on!
rapskat Windopes have to measure their exposure to risks with M$ Draw a grid, on the left put down project modules that...
Why should a prospective Linux customer believe open = indemnified? It doesn't. Open source didn't stop SCO from suing Daimler-Chrysler for millions, and costing them a bundle in legal fees. Open source didn't stop the OSRM from finding 283 patent infringements (non-court validated though they were) in the Linux kernel.
Yes you do. There's nothing stopping an open source developer from using patented technologies in his OSS code, and getting it distributed by one of the smaller distros - or one of the larger ones..
BeOS and OS-2 and NeXT and Win9x-NT users are humming along today as well as they ever were.