Replies to post #61866 on Wave Systems Corp. (fka WAVXQ)

[trustcousa]

Weby, Price is still binary? OK, then please add your probabilities to the binary equation.
TCo

[2bStealthy]

Weby,

Thank you for the response and offering a justification for a discussion of the open source platform. After all, IBM is migrating (internally) to an open source platform.

I believe to broaden beyond the two general statements (which are limited in my opinion) one needs to look at the nature of use for these platforms. Traditionally, at least on the mac side, they have been kept in education and the creative arts (publishers, graphic designers, architects, etc.).

I believe that open source code is more stable because it is peer reviewed. As a scientist you can appreciate the importance of the peer review process. MSFT has never had to withstand the peer review process and now they are paying the price by way of the public voice.

Open source peer review strengthens the stability of the platform. Therefore, browsers like FireFox, Camino, Safari, etc. are built in a peer review process and many of the weaknesses present in IE are engineered out and required to be engineered out by the participants through peer review.

I am not a proponent of open source security. I am a proponent of security due to stability. Once stability is established may the best security service win.

As Steve Balmer once said: "DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS..." It is the open source development process that is superior to the closed source process. That is why open source is more stable and secure.

The foundation is stronger. Therefore, the services that run on it are more powerful.

This is an important point because script kiddies (kitties too) who DO write viral code for the Mac don't like writing for it. The investment in writing it is not demonstrated in distribution. If you write a PC virus for one of the many a weaknesses that abound, you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor. However with an open source platform, finding the weakness is more difficult. Then once a weakness is found, there is a strong probablility a patch will be rushed into the marketplace quickly, squashing distribution. A web-service that runs on my open source platform called, "Software Update" runs whenever I want it to and it updates my machine in a turnkey way. I don't have to go looking for patches, they come to me.

Thanks again for the engaging discussion. And if you want to separate from that Franklin drop me a note.

Cheers!

[Wildman262]

Weby, I think you are right. The virus/hacking problems that have plagged the Windows platform are magnified by it's size, monopoly dominance, a lack of responsiveness by MSFT to address platform security, a distrust and hate of MSFT because of it's monopoly, etc. The Windows platform is almost 20 times bigger than Apple and has been for almost 2 decades. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that all things being equal, there will be more crime in a city that has 20 times the population of another like city.

The market that has the 95% is going to set the rules and standards on computing. At some point as the TCG gets traction and deploys in volumes with enterprise and than consumer, Apple will probably need to engage in TPMs in some way. I don't know if TPM's in their current state are compatible with Apple platforms, and how much development work would be required by Wave to support this small % of the market. Wave seems to have their hands full addressing the 95% of the market with the bigger players like Intel, and hopefully Dell deploying TPM's in volume.

That being said, there is no question ipods are a neat little device that is selling like hotcakes. My son has one. We still have not seen what kind of effect that Janus will have on this market. What will the devices cost? What will the services be like? Barge, where are these Janus devices?

I've read a few anecdotal comments that some ipod buyers will switch to Apple, but I really don't think it would make a huge dent in the Wintel duopoly, at least in the short term.

Up to now, the apple people have been saying, come to us, join us, we are more secure, more stable than windows, less hackers, etc.etc. But won't that change as TPMs and a trust infrastructure get deployed in a Wintel development? The PC will be more secure, MSFT will look better because of it, because there will be less attacks on the platform. As TPM's work their way into consumer PC's, Apple will need to follow. If Apple puts TPM's on consumer PC's ahead of Wintel platforms, that would be great news, but I don't see that happening.

At the end of the day, Apple's share of the PC market will stay in the 3-5% range, IMO, which is a big market, but it's still much smaller than 95%.