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RE: Anyone remember Corel? ~Justin Minluternivu 3.Oct.02 03:48 PM a Web browser Notes Client 6.0Linux - RedHat
The market was no different then -- the simple fact of the matter was that StarOffice was going to be king because it was free. The fact that it was a little less useful than Microsoft Works (while Corel had a full-fledged professional suite ported or in port) at the time had little impact on the choice.
As solid as the Linux kernel is, it's main advantage in the market is neither technical (there are much better Unixes out there) nor ideological (most folks don't get the Open Source concept, nor do they care about the availability of the source code), but financial. Distro costs are essentially support and packaging. (Okay, there may be some ideological influence, but it is anti-Microsoft rather than pro-Open Source.) People will pay for server distros, and they will pay for mission-critical server-based apps. They will not pay for desktop apps if there is a free (or nearly free) alternative, no matter what the kludging may entail. And there will be kludging to beat the band, since it's highly unlikely that any two Linux boxes will have much more than the kernel in common.
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