Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2001 11:50:33 -0700 From: David Johnson <djohnson@acuson.com> To: freebsd-newbies@freebsd.org Subject: Innovation and Promotion Message-ID: <3B8A9679.D8928ABC@acuson.com>
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Apropos the recent thread: When it comes to new technology, you have two forces at work, the innovators and the promoters. Microsoft has never innovated anything. But they have done excellent work at promotion. The Unix family has done great innovation but has fallen down when it comes to promotion. Without Xerox PARC, BSD UNIX, and many others, there would be nothing for Microsoft to promote. Despite their blunders and frequent lapses of ethics, they have managed what everyone else (with the exception of Apple) in the industry has failed to understand: what the customer really wants. And so they have become a monopoly without even trying hard, because no one else is even attempting to compete on the same playing field. The the average customer doesn't want technology. If they did Microsoft would have been out of business years ago and all computers would ship with Unix/BSD/Linux by default. What the customer wants instead are the *benefits* of technology. They don't want TCP/IP, they just to surf the web and read their email. They don't want X11R6/GTK+/QT/Motif, they want a desktop that isn't ugly. They don't want OpenGL, DRI, or even DirectX (for that matter), they only want their games to run smoothly and quickly. When someone knows what the technology is and what it means, then there is no need to promote the benefits. This is why Unix is a favorite among techies. But until very recently, and only in a few corners of the Linux camp, has the Unix community even considered promoting the benefits of their technology. We have a long way to catch up to Microsoft. Complaining about their monopoly status won't help at all. It won't make any difference if Microsoft get's broken up, because there will still be a Windows out there somewhere and it will be preloaded on all the new computers and it will run all the new games on the store shelves. If we want to take market share away from Windows we have to understand that market and sell to it. And be patient. We don't have a problem selling to the technology elite. But we are clueless when it comes to selling to the average Joe on the street. The new Unix/BSD/Linux isn't any more difficult than the old DOS/Win3 combo. Easier in many ways in fact. But the old DOS/Win3 is what got Microsoft its monopoly. All the elements are there if we want to succeed in the market. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-newbies" in the body of the message
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