Re: [PLUG] OSX "middleware"?

[Tobias DiPasquale <toby@cbcg.net>]

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On Feb 27, 2005, at 10:48 AM, Art Alexion wrote:

> William H. Magill wrote:
>
> > On 25 Feb, 2005, at 08:51, Art Alexion wrote:
> >
> > > I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but these sorts of marketing 
> > > decisions that override engineering considerations fascinate me.
> >
> >
> > Throughout history, Marketing has always trumped Engineering.
> . . .
>
> > Neither Michael Dell nor Bill gates are "Engineering Giants" -- but 
> > both are marketing geniuses.
> >
> > The only reason that Linux became a household word was because a 
> > certain evangelist [who, I think is still on this list :)] got Linus 
> > on the Cover of Forbes, Fortune and Time (I think those were the 
> > covers). And as they say, the rest is history. [Many of us in DECUS 
> > had long before recognized what Linux was all about, but the 
> > marketing folks in DEC could only say "VMS." Finally, after much 
> > finagling, Maddog managed to get him an Alpha to develop on. And 
> > early versions of Linux were ported from Alpha to x86 as a result.]
>
> Agreed.  So how does free/open source fit into this?  While f/oss 
> eliminates acquisition costs, administration costs continue.  That 
> means some profit motive is eliminated while some remains.
>
> Is there any reason to believe that the oss model avoids some of the 
> marketing dominance over engineering?

No. Just look at Firefox: non-technical people weren't flocking to it 
in droves until they ran that full-pager (or was it a two-pager) in the 
NYT Sunday Edition a while back. No matter how good something is, 
people have to become aware of it before it will be used.

- --
Tobias DiPasquale
7A79 308C 0354 EA9C 7807  ED83 03C9 9E01 148E 7D01
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