Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on January 20, 2005 11:01 PM
There is some hope and light. IBM and Novell embracing Linux shows there is business support. Sun and Microsoft decrying Linux is free advertising and it's working. The SCO lawsuit was a boon to Linux in that it thrust the Linux issue out in the news arena (the best kind of advertising) and just so happens SCO is screwing up the case so badly that they are validating Linux in the process.
On the consumer front, no, Linux isn't really visible at all. But you're also talking from a society ingrained with MS products. Go to China or Brazil and Linux is a bigger name there.
On the business front, people are actually waking up to the cost benefits of Linux to replace expensive MS contracts. A basic Linux workstation outfitted with openoffice is good enough for most business use, and a capable team of Linux engineers can go to the web and build a custom distro for the company they're working free of license fees. So the cost is the salaries plus hardware without the added expense of licensing fees. If anything else, at least money talks and that is saying a lot to a company looking to cut costs.
It's only a matter of time before companies see that benefit and switch. Then they will switch and their apps will switch as well. There will be a segement of employees that will take their companies distro and apps home with them so they can continue working, adding to the Linux penetration. Once that home use starts, you will really see Linux take off in the consumer space.
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Re:linux
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on January 20, 2005 11:01 PMOn the consumer front, no, Linux isn't really visible at all. But you're also talking from a society ingrained with MS products. Go to China or Brazil and Linux is a bigger name there.
On the business front, people are actually waking up to the cost benefits of Linux to replace expensive MS contracts. A basic Linux workstation outfitted with openoffice is good enough for most business use, and a capable team of Linux engineers can go to the web and build a custom distro for the company they're working free of license fees. So the cost is the salaries plus hardware without the added expense of licensing fees. If anything else, at least money talks and that is saying a lot to a company looking to cut costs.
It's only a matter of time before companies see that benefit and switch. Then they will switch and their apps will switch as well. There will be a segement of employees that will take their companies distro and apps home with them so they can continue working, adding to the Linux penetration. Once that home use starts, you will really see Linux take off in the consumer space.
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