While Open Source makes the most sense for truly secure, networked systems, this was not a given when CISCO started manufacturing routers, switches, etc. There are quite a few PhD's who would argue that it's impossible to build a sufficiently profitable company of their size/type using OS methodologies anyway, and others who would deny that it's any more secure (dumbasses in my view).
Now that the IOS cat's out of the bag, it may be a good time for them to review whether or not it's possible to create healthy profits on future products while opening the code for development and review. Having worked with them and their equipment extensively, I doubt it. The hardware is not as well known or as widely distributed as Intel's / AMD's x86 architecture, so the # of developers available or even interested is going to be small.
If a competitor is able to provide equivalent speed, hardware and leverage OS to provide inexpensive security and updates, then all bets are off. A lot of customers are going to jump ship if they don't have to pay extended support costs. But until then, I don't think it makes sense in this case.
And I sure as hell am a Linux zealot, but have the advantage of working with it in the real world sans the rose colored glasses.
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Posted by: smurfnsanta on May 18, 2004 11:16 AMNow that the IOS cat's out of the bag, it may be a good time for them to review whether or not it's possible to create healthy profits on future products while opening the code for development and review. Having worked with them and their equipment extensively, I doubt it. The hardware is not as well known or as widely distributed as Intel's / AMD's x86 architecture, so the # of developers available or even interested is going to be small.
If a competitor is able to provide equivalent speed, hardware and leverage OS to provide inexpensive security and updates, then all bets are off. A lot of customers are going to jump ship if they don't have to pay extended support costs. But until then, I don't think it makes sense in this case.
And I sure as hell am a Linux zealot, but have the advantage of working with it in the real world sans the rose colored glasses.
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