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IMHO, The Windows-Linux issue is much broader than espoused on this
list...<br><br>
As an Enterprise IT Architecture consultant with CIO level clients at
companies such as BP-Amoco, Medtronic, Ford, McDonalds, etc., I can
explain, at least my perception of the large corporate perspective on
this.<br><br>
The operating system by itself is irrelevant, except to those who
continue to fight the "religious OS wars". It is <b>100%</b> a
business issue.<br><br>
I sat across the table from Microsoft as they forced a large
multi-national oil company to eliminate all the Novell servers, and move
to NT, as Micro$oft refused to sell them 260,000 upgraded copies of
Windows and Office unless they did so. By replacing the 1,600 unattended
Novell servers on oil rigs in places like the North Sea, it only required
the purchase of a half-dozen of so helicopters to ferry technicians out
to the oil rigs to reboot and maintain the NT servers.<br><br>
BUT THAT WAS CHEAP!!<br><br>
Compared with:<br>
Retraining 260,000 employees<br>
Retraining thousands of IT staff<br>
Introducing and training users on new applications<br>
Dealing with data incompatibility issues with non-Microsoft applications
that are the de-facto-standard with the companies that they interact
with<br>
Supporting a global staff in a new environment<br>
Transitioning 260,000 desktops, reimaging drives, etc. <br>
Translating literally billions of files from existing formats<br>
Supporting 2 environments during the transition<br>
etc., etc., etc. <br><br>
The $100M they gave to Micro$oft (plus the cost of the helicopters) was
cheap compared to moving to the "free" Linux world.<br><br>
You wanna' help, then fix the above issues. <br>
StarOffice6 is close to Office file compatibility, but, for instance,
things like Word bullets and style sheets do not translate correctly.
<br>
LINUX is still techno-geek in the installation, in both terminology and
approach. Even Mandrake's install is far from typical end-user friendly.
(reference point: most end-users can't even set tab stops in Word!)<br>
Setting up printers and modem in LINUX is technically straightforward,
but user incomprehensible.<br>
Make analogous help files for the trained Windows Sysadmin base. Start
with a Windows help file, and show the analogous LINUX equivalents.<br>
Is there a KDE/Gnome equivalent that looks and feels like Windows? Now
that would be great "stealthware" for gaining entry into
corporate America...<br><br>
It isn't about being better, it is about [cost-effectively] shifting
mindshare to an alternative. Make the transition better, and the benefits
become obvious. StarOffice 6 is a great start, as the application level
is where the [corporate] end-user maindshare is at. Getting that on
Windows everywhere, then takes away the MAJOR roadblock to moving to
LINUX.<br><br>
Or the LINUX/UNIX camp can remain, as they have for 30 years, the realm
of the technologist, never reaching the mainstream population, or at
least where they do, resulting in inflicting serious pain on the brave
user.<br><br>
Kirk <br><br>
<div align="center">Kirk R. Rheinlander - Principal - TAM Group,
Inc.<br>
Direct: 303.910.1578 - Office: 970.586.1090 - FAX: 419.831.5165<br>
EMail: krrheinlander@tamgroupinc.com <br>
EMail Pager: pagekirk@tamgroupinc.com<br>
<a href="http://www.tamgroupinc.com/" eudora="autourl">http://www.tamgroupinc.com</a><br><br>
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