I haven't check out the survey yet, so I might be putting my foot in my mouth, but I'm not sure it's clear "how" to make linux or for that matter Mandrake Linux more than just a hobbist platform/OS. You often hear "Linux has proven itself in the (web) server market" but this is a misleading statement I think. Yeah, the linux kernel has proven itself as stable and robust and Apache has proven itself stable and robust but I think this is not analogous to the quote above. Anything beyond web, print, file sharing, and development environment is about it for large scale deployment of linux. Not that it couldn't be more, just folks are too scared to try.
We use linux here for our UNIX development but when it comes time to production all code is ultimately compiled for Solaris only because none of the upper management trust that in the time of need that they will be able to get the support required if things should fail. The developers gripe and moan wishing to deploy linux for production and scrape solaris but linux doesn't generate warm fuzzies like solaris does as far as support. Is it possible to get professional g++ development support from Mandrake for mission critical development? We use an object database by FastObjects (www.fastobjects.com) that is available for Solaris, Windows, and Linux - but they don't support the linux version. And the only linux flavor they are comfortable answering questions about is Red Hat not Mandrake. So is it possible to get IT support from Mandrake that is comparable to what we get for SUN, especially if we are bold enough to use a product like FastObjects on a platform the vendor doesn't formally support? And then there's the the office products issue. Even though we build backend systems in UNIX we must interface with MS Office, specifically with Excel and Visio. It doesn't appear that any of the linux office products are on par with the MS stuff. Sure they work pretty good for personal stuff, but not very well for large scale use like we do here. It would be my greatest wish to "go linux" but I'm not sure how it could be done. It seems that MS has won the desktop battle at large. The only way to go the linux route is if everyone in your company is on board or if it has been mandated from the company's CEO or something. ps: I was thinking about this whole thing this weekend. You cannot market a product to the consumer because it will never take off, it must be marketed to the business sector and from there it'll trickle down to consumers. The reason why most people are running Windows or Mac machines is because they are running them at work (or at school). So how can linux (Mandrake) leverage itself in the market? It's not a desktop OS it's a server OS (that happens to have some reasonable desktop applications). It fits better in embedded devices and other service oriented products. I went to Home Depot this weekend to buy some crap and I hate going in there because I can't find anything and neither can the helper folks. I don't understand why they don't have a kiosk setup (running linux on one of those deprecated internet applicances) that would allow me to do a search on the item I wanted and show me exactly where to go. They should put these in grocery stores, book stores, computer stores, etc. They should make the these kiosks internet enabled so I can access my Consumer Reports account so I can quickly compare items. And if not kiosks, why don't the helper folks have PDAs running linux so they can quickly identify where something (or someone) is so you don't have follow this guy for five blocks as he asks three other employees where something might be. I'm sensitive to the fact that it's hard to figure out how to make money -- especially on open source stuff, but it seems that most marketing is applied to the wrong folks. pps: this is probably blasphemous but I really would be willing to pay for linux applications if they were of the same caliber as all these Windows products (Quicken, DevStudio, MS Office Suite, etc..). Personally, I never use any "services", I buy the product and that's it. Personally, I never call the support desk for either linux or windows or for any other product. I don't buy exteneded warranties. I just generally hate subscribing to services. I don't understand how anyone can make money selling "services". Ximian's Red Carpet is fantastic, but I will never buy the upgraded version. But really I hate saying all this because I feel like I'm slapping some linux programmer in the face for all the hard work he or she volunteers to the movement. There are few examples of high quality free software. Usually you really do get what you pay for. I always try to "buy" linux software through donations but it's real hard to tell how helpful that is in the scheme of things. Again, I haven't check out the survey yet, so I might be putting my foot in my mouth. > -----Original Message----- > From: Yu Yu [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 9:03 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [newbie] Mandrake Business Survey > > > > An impressive number of companies, schools and organizations uses > Mandrake Linux for their day to day business. However, due to the > nature of open source, these users are hard to find. > > In order to gather more info about business use of Mandrake Linux > (who uses Mandrake Linux, why, and for which tasks), we are > launching a large "Mandrake Business Survey". If you use Mandrake > Linux for professional purposes or if you know of a > company/organization/education institution... using Mandrake > Linux, please let us know! > > Send your story to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED], with your > company name in the subject line. > > You can get an idea right now on how some companies use Mandrake > Linux by browsing trough articles on www.MandrakeBizcases.com > site, but these companies represent just the "tip of the iceberg". > > The result of the survey will be available publicly and will help > us convince more people that Mandrake Linux is much more than just > a "home toy" for hackers. > > Thank you very much for your cooperation! > > -- > > Yu YU > Community Development Manager - MandrakeSoft > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Tel: +33-(0)1-40 41 17 51 Fax: +33-(0)1-40 41 92 00 > >
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