Just got through reading a large collection of posts on Dan Gillmor's Web page
after reading his article in the Trib's business section, and the Linux users
outnumber Mac and BeOS about eight to one.
A point worth mentioning is local users groups, like SLUG, who can provide a
lot of help to novices in making the switch from M$ to Linux. I'm hoping the low
cost alternative of Open Source will lure more businesses toward putting Linux
on the desktop, and Gillmor is looking for practical solutions to make something
like that happen. I suspect the huge pricetags on Windows and Office-XP are
giving a lot of small to medium sized businesses pause for reflection over
their software budgets. They need to be enlightened about StarOffice, KOffice,
and Gnome's offerings so they get off the endless-upgrade merry-go-round.
Get Linux on business desktops, and it's just a matter of time before before
it's on home desktops. It happened with DOS, then with Windows, and e-mail and
the Web. "Gee, my Linux at the office hardly crashes, and it's been weeks
since I had to re-boot. Maybe I ought to run it at home."
Let's give Gillmor some rational, practical tips and arguments for porting over
to Linux. He has a good column, and if the Trib runs it on a regular basis,
maybe he'll help persuade more folks that migrating their hardware to Linux and
GPL apps makes a lot more sense than hanging with M$ and continually paying top
dollar for third-rate products.
On Fri, 20 Jul 2001, you wrote:
> SLUGs:
>
> Don't know how many of you read the business section of the Tampa
> Tribune, but there was an op ed piece in there today by a guy named Dan
> Gillmor. He expressed concern about our growing dependence on the
> one-vendor solution (Microsoft). He's looking to work out ways for
> people to gain independence from Microsoft. He'd like suggestions about
> how to accomplish this.
>
> I'm sure he's heard about Linux, though he didn't mention it. But if
> you're interested, and if you can intelligently suggest something
> besides "Use Linux!" (which just makes penguinistas look like kooks),
> you can send him suggestions.
>
> The link is:
>
> http://www.siliconvalley.com/dangillmor
>
> Paul
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