Gadgetopia

"... these problems will eventually catch up with Microsoft."

Have these problems already caught up with Microsoft in at least one segment? According to Netcraft's normally reliable server survey, IIS market share peak against Apache two years ago and has been declining ever since.

See http://news.netcraft.com/archives/webserversurvey.html

I take that survey with a grain, make that a block, of salt. People will usually take something free before paying for something. This last fall I was at a Chiefs game, and there was a food stand giving away hotdogs next to a stand that was selling hamburgers. Now I could hypothesize that since there were twice as many people lined up for free hotdogs as there were for expensive hamburgers, the hamburgers were just not as good as hotdogs, but I don't think that was the case. Sure they are made out of lips and a$$holes, but when they are free nobody seems to mind much.

Because, naturally, when it comes to considering the most appropriate software with which to host your organisation's -- or even, for that matter, your personal -- information on the web, your primary concern is not the reliability of the software, nor what features it offers, but rather how much it costs. Bollocks.

I don't suppose the fact that everyone is not using one of the numerous free operating systems that are available is any indication that cost is not always -- or ever -- the sole consideration when selecting a utility?

One last point: the software may be free, but there are numerous other costs associated with installing and maintaining any piece of software. For example, you either have to employ someone who knows how to configure it, or learn to do so yourself. You might require some sort of support contract, generally provided by a third party. Etc., etc., etc., ad nauseum. "Free" software is hardly the same thing as free food.