This time of year, I make my rounds with the OEMs and get to chat with a number of executives. Several things have floated to the top, but the one I’d like to chat about right now is the comment that Linux demand and interest in open source in general has dropped off sharply.
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incinerator
16 years 40 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago
Just go to groklaw and look around
Just go to groklaw and look around what PJ thinks about the author. Yes, that's right: Rob Slanderle actually is one of the folks who says that SCO will win. I don't understand why readers of website that supposedly focuses on Free Software can vote in a story like this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Enderle
kiba
16 years 40 weeks 4 days 16 hours ago
Well, he is misrepresenting RMS'
Well, he is misrepresenting RMS' position.
RMS is not about people working for 0.00, but he is merely about freedom. He would like business as end users to have freedom too. FSF is not about anti-MS nor anti-business.
Rather MS is one of the biggest and most powerful megacorporation so anything they do tend to amplify and scrutinized every bit as its size. Small corporations that used the same tactics as MS wouldn't simply be as easily heard.
He also talk about profitability and income. I don't really care about programmers keeping jobs, but I care about the overall economics. If the economy of the United States are going to be more efficient and better off because of layoff from the computer industry because of competition and outsourcing, then it is worth the job loss.
For some reason, it is hard to read his article. Maybe because I am baised.
bridget
16 years 40 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago
Well, I can say that I personally
Well, I can say that I personally voted for this story because it's good to know what people are saying about free software... even when it's negative. I mean, you just have to look at what he said on page 2... something about how Stallman is jealous because Bill Gates is giving away his fortune to charity?? Puleeze. That just shows this article to be the blatant fudslinging piece that it is, and how biased the author is. I didn't vote because I agreed with the content, but more because I wanted to draw the stupidity of the article to people's attention. :-)
velocitywebdev
16 years 33 weeks 1 day 20 hours ago
Good overview, and I don't know
Good overview, and I don't know his background - but I am guessing he is not a design or implementation expert. I would also assume that he doesn't have R&D in his blood.
Here's the reality - corporate visionaries will help set the stage for a particular widget to move forward within an IT infrastructure. After the initial introduction is completed and proven, companies will implement policy and procedure to deal going forward.
My experience is contrary to his. If I can provide my client's (mostly SMB's) solutions that are seamless and integrated to their environment; satisfaction is met. So, they rely on me to provide the solution, they may not demand, but they don't care.
Large companies (5000+ employees) that I work with have changed from the late-80's and early-90's vision of IT. There are few risk takers because technology scares them. So, the attitude goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Few IT professionals coming out of school today have much incentive to be proactive and push new technology - and I believe Open Source solutions are included in that sandbox.
If software companies are truly barely making ends meet - maybe they should spend more time talking to the end users and IT that are required to implement their solutions. I can't tell you how many times I have run across a change in a software implementation that has impacted a businesses technology and changed they way things work! Quicken is a great example - changing their methodology of how data is served to individual desktops. No more file sharing! If that client could have dumped Quick Books, they would have done it...so who is actually prisoner of who?
Bottom line, he makes a few good statements, but are backed up by little real world examples. So, although I can appreciate his view of things - I can't see the point.