| chadwickthebold -- just because it's open source does not mean they wouldn't charge businesses and enterprises equivalent support fees which is basically what the Enterprises are paying for. Oh wait you think they want Windows for the Tile-UI? No it's the supported, mission critical apps. Also they make more money if they retain and grow market share through open sourcing this commoditized platform code by selling more Office, Sharepoint, etc. to the even more enthusiastic users and developers that the FOSS move would likely provide. Opening the code does nothing to revenue if they choose to sell the same basic Enterprise packages but remove the per-seat Windows license revenue (only) and replace it with "per seat" tech support and priority bug fixing. How is it that something so abstract as a software license sale can become like the rock of gibralter in people's minds? OMG this completely invented human abstraction can never be changed??? Ballmeresque thinking, in my opinion. I've spent more time over the years explaining basic "give away razor sell the blade" Open Source business models to really smart people. Still baffles me that software licensing is the only thing people seem to grok. Oh one thing never mentioned: this would finally bring an end to Windows piracy... |