Re: [SLUG] Re: AT&T Testing Linux as Windows Replacement

From: Bryan J. Smith (b.j.smith@ieee.org)
Date: Wed Oct 06 2004 - 00:57:25 EDT


On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 23:59, Jim Wildman wrote:
> I think we will be seeing some major announcements (or rumors) in the
> next 12-16 months on the desktop for the following reasons.

Ditto ...

> 1) Cost ...

You hit the _real_ "TCO" nail right on the head.

> 2) PHB comfort level with Open Source ...

Also a major factor. Conservative moves, a growing professional base,
etc... it doesn't happen overnight.

> 3) Standardization of the corporate intranet ...

Again, you hit the nail there. The second I saw Boeing snub Microsoft's
XML efforts and supporting the standardization OASIS submission of Sun's
OpenOffice XML, I _knew_ this was going to change for the better in the
near future. Companies _refuse_ to put their IP in a Hostageware format
or system, including Microsoft's XML system that requires their closed
MS Office back-end at the core.

> 4) Realization that 'good enough' costs a lot less than 'the latest
> thing'...

I actually disagree with you here. I believe there is the _falsehood_
that somehow Freedomware apps are "not as capable" or "not as featured"
as Commerceware or Hostageware ones. God knows I personally and
professionally adopted StarImpress back in the mid-'90s because it was
superior to MS PowerPoint, and the word processor and spreadsheet were
just as capable as Microsoft's equivalents. Standardware StarOffice and
Freedomware OpenOffice.org _does_ have the "bells and whistles" but they
are different (and incompatible) with Hostageware MS Office.

Which is more of an issue with #3 than a separate one. We need to
educate Windows users on the fact that there _are_ "just as luxury apps"
in the Freedomware/Standardware world as the Commerceware/Hostageware
one. Sun's _free_, on-line, 4 hour training on Migrating from MS Office
to StarOffice is one to point them towards. ;-ppp

> With all due respect to owners of luxury cars, the groceries
> you bring home are the same ones I put in the trunk of my Saturn.
> Dollar bills don't care how many bells and whistles the operating system
> that processes them has.

My wife's Pontaic Grand Am (OpenOffice) or a Pontaic Grand Prix
(StarOffice) does the job for many general tasks as well as Oldsmobile's
Aurora (MS Office), but I still drive my B2300 pick-up (LyX, Scribus)
far more when I need to haul some serious documentation. The Grand Am,
Grand Prix or Aurora can't haul the size I require and will only get
scratched up in any attempt to do so.

> 5) Realization that the platform of choice for many of the best and
> brightest to develop on is Gnu/Linux and especially LAMP. Why spend
> money to get a development environment, then spend money to get the
> programmers trained, then pay license fees to deploy the application
> when we can just use LAMP? Very few people have a WebSphere development
> environment at home that they code at for fun. Lots of people have
> Tomcat.

BTW, what do you think of Red Hat's recent move to support JOnAS
alongside Tomcat, instead of other, popular Freedomware solutions?

-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith@ieee.org 
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