On Mon, 2006-12-25 at 10:13 -0800, J Sloan wrote: > > Basil Chupin wrote: > > Kenneth Schneider wrote: > > >> Linux is used far and wide by the federal government for it to go away. > > > > But Ken, your federal government must have used some other OS before > > switching to Linux which means that 'they' are a fickle lot and will > > switch from Linux at a drop of a hat. If they abandoned the other OS > > then they will abandon Linux given the appropriate excuses. > > Indeed, linux is used heavily in the server rooms, as it should be, but it > isn't that hard to imagine a scenario where some convicted monopolist gives a > government agency a sweetheart deal, applying pressure at several points: > bribes for the decision makers, offers of free software and free support for 3 > years, reams of "studies" showing that microsoft servers are super duper, and > that "everyone else is going that way". The hapless bureaucrat might well > shrug and say "we're using 100% microsoft on the desktop, why not in the > server room too". Joe, This already happened over ten years ago, Novell was on top, nothing else existed except Unix and Linux. Microsoft swooped in by stealing technology and innovating quicker,i.e. Microsoft gateway for Netware networks, Microsoft Services for Netware, TCPIP adoption and Internet Explorer. I have already been on the underdog side of this by maintaining my Novell allegiances and certifications. I am glad to have read this thread because I won't keep myself poor next time, If I don't see a 64bit uptake in the Linux environment and I don't see Multimedia support growth. I am going to go to south "think Mexico or South America", give up on civilization taking a fare and equitable stance on computing, and support Linux where it can still make a difference, the still developing non\little Internet enabled, ever growing and excepting of change atmosphere of the southern hemisphere( I'd go to China but I'm already cold) . No insult intended to those countries! They are the last bastion of growth, opportunity and prosperity. James
> > But even a 10% linux presence on the desktop would be a powerful deterrent > against such a checkmate. There really is a network effect, that the clever > business people at microsoft understand well. When there are a lot of > interdependencies, you can't just yank one piece out - but in the case where > linux is isolated in the server room, it can be replaced, even though > technically speaking, it should not be. > > Read Linus statements about the importance of desktop Linux for a heads-up. > > Joe -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]