I think Michael's got a great line of thought going here.
The particulars of what makes Linux great is that it is fully diversified.
Don't like this distribution? Don't use it. Don't like this office
product? Don't use it.
However, I will have to kindly disagree on at least one point. First, the
assertion that MS could be/will be headed for downfall. As much as I hate
MS, they make money hand over fist.
Their number one money loser is -- new software. Strangely enough, WinXP
is selling at a loss, compared to how much research $$ they stuffed into
it. Each box they sell at list price actually hurts the company.
Their number one money gainer is -- old software. Again, strangely enough,
the base which MS is working from now is licenses from WinNT and Win98,
not to mention Win2000. University systems, large businesses, etc. And
don't forget the full price licenses they "sell" to Dell, Gateway, Compaq,
etc.
Let's not ring the death bell yet.
However, I don't think we need to argue that MS is going down the tubes in
order to sell linux and avoid the polarizing "MS is a monopoly" discourse.
I've been focusing on TCO, or total cost of ownership. An MS product will
cost millions of dollars in capital expenditure, labor, and lost time over
the course of 5-6 years. (nearly 2.4 million for MS Office)
Linux is so cheap, it's like the game is rigged. If we look at even the
most basic price/performance metric, there's not a business in the world
that should be buying MS software.
Finally, I've got an anecdote. I've been working really hard on a close
friend who is IT director at a small company in Orlando. They were
recently audited by MS to the tune of FOUR YEARS WORTH of their sofware
budget. (i.e. it cost them 4x their whole software budget this year)
The most damning thing for him? RedHat 6.2 on my K6-2 400 has been running
steady for 262 days. I rebooted to upgrade to 7.2 a few months ago.
His work boxes are constantly going down, and if he wanted to put the "new
WinXP" in his office, he'd have to buy new, faster computers just to cut
through the bloat.
Result? He's setting up a test LAN, with ONE linux box becoming an active
directory server, as well as serving up a UNIX app to their thinnet.
And it's going to cost him nothing but time.
No licensing fees. No audits. No security holes. No paying for an
"upgrade" every two years.
It's persuasive, I say.
-- This message courtesy of PINE! It's the fresh scent, not the graphics.
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