[rescue] VirtualBox anecdotes - was Re: A wee bit off-topic

[microcode at zoho.com]

On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 08:25:27AM -0500, Lionel Peterson wrote:

> And going forward, MS announced that anyone that evaluates a Windows 10 before
> release will get a free permanent license for windows 10 for the machine the
> evaluation was run on when it is released later this summer. The so-called
> 'Microsoft Tax' is going away.

I think I just saw today they are talking/thinking about renegging on that
but I didn't look into it because I really don't care.

> 
> In China, India, and Russia, where you claim Windows is effectively 'free'
> (due to rampant piracy), people still choose Windows over other, equally free
> operating systems like Linux... So the reason windows is so popular in those
> countries can't be price alone, but also *perceived* value/functionality of
> windows vs. linux.

I don't know if we can say that until a few trillion PCs are shipped with
Linux preinstalled and with a Linux-specific bootloader that doesn't allow
people to get rid of their factory Linstall and put a respectable copy of
Windows on there where it belongs. And probably not until all those banks
and governments that only supported a Linux-specific web browser changeover
after two decades and finally support Internet Exploder like they should
have. There's more but that's a good start.

Really, I think it is about the good marketing job *cough* monopoly *cough*
antitrust the Windows world has always been about more than any perception
of anything. When you don't have a choice whatever you got is usually fine.

> 
> Didn't I recently read at slashdot that the German city (Munich) that cut over
> to Linux ten years ago is considering switching back to Windows because, wait
> for it, the incredible savings of using a free operating system didn't
> materialize (in part, along with other reasons)?

I am not a Linux advocate (ask Dave! ;-) and I don't really care about
that. You don't have to say Linux is good to know Windows is bad.

> None of the above should be construed as being a discussion of technical
> superiority, inherent quality, or suitability to a particular task of either
> Linux or Windows operating system.

And indeed it was not!