Though perhaps painful to acknowledge, Windows XP and Vista are still operating systems of choice for the vast majority of consumers. Ironically, open source applications may be helping to sustain that monopoly-like status.

For a good taste, take a look at the large variety of open source applications available, Open Source as Alternative maintains an excellent list that grows regularly.

And what operating systems have the most open source software to choose from? Windows XP and Vista. It’s a vicious cycle that developers are caught in–they have to develop for the platform with the most users to encourage the best growth for their applications. But, at the same time, they’re frustrated by clumsiness in the way Windows Vista in particular was designed.

Linux provides a welcoming alternative, but lacks the number of users necessary to truly reach critical mass and break through to the masses.

Exceptions to that rule though, are web applications, and that’s partially why Microsoft is so keen on ripping into Google’s behemoth market share in online advertising. Users like being to access the same application regardless of what computer they’re using, and web applications provide that flexibility.

But, until Linux gains a following of users eager to talk about it as an easy-to-use product that runs their favorite applications, Windows XP and Vista are likely to maintain their lead.

Some of the most potent innovations have derived from open source initiatives, the beginning of the Internet is a great example. “Very similar to open standards, researchers with access to the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) used a process called Request for Comments to develop telecommunication network protocols. Characterized by contemporary open source work, this 1960’s collaborative process led to the birth of the Internet in 1969. There are earlier instances of open source movements and free software such as IBM’s source releases of its operating systems in the 1960s and the SHARE user group that formed to facilitate the exchange of such software,” according to Wikipedia.

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Related:

Acer disses Ubuntu in the UK

Windows Vista more secure than Linux? Microsoft slams open source

Linux thriving in an anti-Windows Vista market

Windows XP driver support begins to end

Microsoft’s Open Source heart?

Stumble It!

Entry was posted on Friday, April 11th, 2008 at 10:05 pm under Linux, Open source, Vista, Windows XP.  Print This Post

Read more entries by Matt Jansen.