Re: [Axiom-developer] Re: AMS Notices: Open Source Mathematical Software

[M. Edward (Ed) Borasky]

William Stein wrote:
> Well I'm trying to directly compete with heavily financed commercial
> systems.  I think you are wrong that one cannot win.  Linux, Firefox,
> OpenOffice, etc., are all examples of direct competition with heavily
> financed commercial systems, where they have all won, at least
> where "win" means establish a large solid user base and be a viable
> alternative to MS Windows, MS Internet Explorer, and MS Office.

Well ... if you mean "*Red Hat* Linux has won a significant market share 
in servers", I agree. However, I don't think as a user that either 
Firefox or OpenOffice are of sufficient quality or maturity to be used 
on a Windows desktop, and I don't consider what they have accomplished 
to be a "win". They just aren't viable alternatives for anything but 
casual home use. I use them on Linux because they are there, but they 
aren't on my Windows desktop at work and probably never will be.

I *might* be able to get Axiom there briefly, but more than likely I 
would be told that I didn't need it and that if I did need a math 
package, that I needed to write a cost justification and do competitive 
bids for a commercial package. That's just the way the corporate world 
works.

> There is nothing particularly special about mathematics software that
> makes it winning in a similar sense impossible, as much as Wolfram
> would argue that (as he often used to do in interviews I've read online).

I disagree. Mathematics software is the most difficult software to 
write, and it's market is very limited. And *symbolic* mathematics 
software / theorem proving are more difficult to write than numeric 
software. I've never used Mathematica, and only briefly used Maple, so I 
can't really compare either of them with Axiom in the same sense as I 
compared OpenOffice with Microsoft Office, Firefox with Internet 
Explorer, or the Linux desktop with the Windows desktop in the context 
of a corporate workstation. But again, I'm guessing that people who can 
cost-justify Mathematica or Maple will keep them in business and "winning."