Today, visit any home equipped with a computer in Mumbai, and there's a 99% chance that the computer will be operating on some version of Windows or the other. The vast majority of the population here today equates "computer" with "Windows"; the concept of "free software" (not to mention Macs) is completely unheard of. Scientific research institutions, like the one my parents work in, are the only places where computers using Linux can be found. Even is schools, text-books don't bother to mention even the existence of alternate OSs to Windows (they're very crappy text-books, that too)! In short, Microsoft seems to have achieved it's monopoly, at least around here.

And so the question arises -- what is the cause of the failure of the Free Software movement, and its dismal performance in its competition with Microsoft?

One major factor is the fact the Microsoft's got the money, while the Free Software-creators do it all for free. I was having a discussion with my parents today, where they said that in today's times, computer-engineers are getting a lot less time than they used to, to devote to activities like this (i.e. Free Software) thanks to the world getting increasingly competitive. I'm not sure how true this is, though.

Another point which they raised was the complexity of Free Software in general, you can barely do anything at all without coming across terms like "Hejkroft Blug", and have unheard-to-the-common-man abbreviations like "TLKO7" all over the place. (N.B. "Hejkrfot Blug" and "TLKO7" are purely figments of my imagination.) Such things are bound to repel many people. Windows, on the other hand, features a friendly, "dummies"-type interface, which attracts a lot more people (me, for example).

Another issue -- compatibility of most programs...

So which factors do you feel have played the most major role in the current state of the Free Software Movement? What can it do to bring itself up, and provide Microsoft with some strong competition? What steps should it take, right now?

Or do you feel that the Movement is doing just fine and that we don't need to worry about it? Or do you hope for its downfall as you work for Microsoft / you own shares in Microsoft / you have an obsession with Microsoft?

You have brought out some interesting points. However I don't think free ware could or would have much of a change against a giant. Much free ware thrives in little niches and corners. It is those that aspire to actually compete that are quickly annihilated. We have become accustomed to MS OS. It would be hard to have a computer without it. I do not know of a competing program marketed today. I have been around since the beginning of computers. I remember using a different DOS,, I can't even recall the name. But after windows finally caught on, MS has been hard to stop or compete with. Strangely enough many of the competing programs have been superior to MS. Word perfect is a good example. Netscape is another. But every time a flag pops up on your computer you will wonder if it is a conflict with software. At least I did. Microsoft does offer value tho it does not come at a cheap price. And it is not trouble free by any means. Microsoft has not always had a better product, it has just been at better at sales.
There are probably nearly as many computers as there are cars. Would it not be wonderful to be able to sell the same computer program to the manufacture for ever car built? . Full blown Windows ( not up grade) retails for around $300 and about $100 for new computer OEM, in the US.

There is a lot of business cornered by MS. With all the money at stake you would think there would be some competition.
Sam Walton and Bill Gates have done a very good job at getting to the top of the hill and it will take a very long pole to knock them off.
Jax

Many years ago I was involved with the programming of business machines, pre-PC when the only computers were mainframes. One of the problems back then was that each manufacturer had its own 'languages' and even different 'languages' for different models that it made, once a company had invested in purchasing accounting equipment from one company they rarely changed to another. At that time we programmers thought it would be great if all manufacturers could get together and develop a code which would work on all their machines, I guess that Windows is as near as we get to that wish. Now it no longer matters if you have a mixture of Compacs and Dells, they can all use the same software.

As for WordPerfect versus Word, WP wins hands down every time and I use it every day, I loath Word and just cannot get on with it. The main problem, and even the newer versions of WP are guilty, is that they have made the software too clever, it anticipates and is often wrong. For my day to day work I use WP 6.1, it is so flexible, it allows me to do what I want and not what it thinks I should want. An example of this is that I need to edit .htm files, I want to open them as text, edit a small part and save them as text but with the extention .htm - WP 6.1 has no problem allowing this, newer version spot the .htm and cleverly open them as web pages - agh! Yes I could let Word convert the pages to .html for me but it sticks in so much code, I hate that.

Microsoft became so popular because their operating system offered ease of installation and usage, along with an attractive interface. Its popularity meant that those who wanted compatibility with their colleague’s programs also purchased Microsoft products. So started the roller-coaster success story of Microsoft.

Microsoft seemed to realise, almost from the beginning that what really counts is appearance and how easy the software is to use, rather than the technical excellence of what goes on in the background. Get the ‘look and feel’ right first and iron out any bugs later almost seems to be the policy.

We are somewhat used as testers to find software glitches but nobody seems to mind about that too much. New Microsoft products are still eagerly used regardless. On a more positive note, we can be sure that once Microsoft is aware that something doesn't work properly, a patch to cure it will be quickly released. It isn’t even necessary to think how to download and install it. Windows Update automates the whole process. Everything is so easy-peasy! I think that’s the reason why people love Microsoft so much.

There are alternatives to Microsoft software but they not so user friendly. Has anyone experimented with Linux on their home computer for instance? Many people praise it but I found it was not half so user friendly as Windows 98SE. I suppose if I spent as much time getting to grips with Linux as I have with Windows then I might think it was OK. What happened was that I gratefully slipped back to good old Microsoft after a week or so.

The Mozilla Firebird browser knocks spots off Internet Explorer in my opinion. The trouble is that it isn’t as easy to set up. It has enhancements called ‘extensions’. They do all sorts of clever things but have to be installed separately. Some enhancements include creating files and adding a bit of pre-written code. It’s only a question of cutting and pasting but perhaps this is more than the IE user is prepared to do. Until they come up with the familiar ‘tick boxes’ with all extensions and options selectable in one place, I don’t think the majority of IE users will bother trying it. If Opera and Netscape, which does have tick boxes, are not as widely used as IE then what chance does Mozilla Firebird have?

I think to be interested in alternative products a bit of concern is needed about keeping competition alive. Personally, I give competition support by using Firebird for my browser (better anyway) and Thunderbird for e-mail. However, most computer users are possibly not worried enough about Microsoft dominance to try using an alternative OS, browser or e-mail program. I think this is understandable. Afterall, if you have something that you’re familiar with, which works fairly well (most of the time), then why bother with anything else?

Only those with an interest in computers are likely to realise Microsoft products aren't the be all and end all of this type of software.

I’m sure lots of types of free software work very well if you don’t mind typing strange hieroglyphics into files as workarounds for particular problems, also that you understand expressions like, "Hejkrfot Blug" and "TLKO7" and know how to handle them. Until such problems can be overcome using the *‘patch and click’ method I don’t think they’ll be much of a threat to Microsoft’s supremacy.

*Patch and click: My own expression for downloading an EXE type update, clicking on it and then sitting back and twiddling your thumbs while it sorts things out for you.

Note: Sorry its a bit long ...rambling again!