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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: QT for Windows released under GPL
From:       Jason Keirstead <jason () keirstead ! org>
Date:       2005-02-07 16:46:56
Message-ID: 200502071246.56520.jason () keirstead ! org
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On Monday 07 February 2005 12:04 pm, Christoph Wiesen wrote:
> I really hope so, too. But honestly, I _would_ switch to Konqueror within
> Windows.

Great - go ahead! But, how would this hurt the open source movement?

People who argue against porting apps to windows seem to think that this hurts 
the movement overall, because it gives people less of a motive to switch over 
to Linux.

I think this is totally ridiculous. As good as Konqueror / Kopete / Kmail are, 
there is absolutely *no way* that having these things on Windows is going to  
hinder people from switching to Linux - it is wishful thinking that these 
apps would have that much of an impact. I mean, look at how long Firefox has 
been around, how much press it has gotten, etc. And it is still only 5-10% of 
the market depending on who you ask. It is definitely not hindering Linux 
migration, because it is *not* an enabling technology for the OS.

Even assuming these apps did get incredibly widespread - it would only make 
people's transition easier to an open source operating system, by reducing 
the main barrier to entry for most people - familiarity with the 
applications. Once I showed my GF which app did what in Linux, and how to sue 
them, she had no problem with it - and continues to have no problems. If she 
had been using those apps on Windows beforehand, it would have been that much 
simpler.


-- 
If you wait by the river long enough, eventually
you will see the bodies of all your enemies float by.
    - Sun Tzu
 
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