[mdlug] A big opportunity for Linux?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> Bottom line is what they care about, Techies are always poor
> sales-people. Even if it is the best thing out there, what the
> resources ever it is.  But New business owners are a different story
> they have no infrastructure to migrate.  
> And NO I do not want to waste my time on people who are not even open
> to listening to sound options. 
> I know first hand that you have to have support from the top in such
> issues.  And at that level Dollars and Cents have the final say.  

No, they don't.  Availability of support, documentation, and talent, as
well as durability of the vendor.

> That is why Microsoft uses FUD.  Microsoft has the resources to fluid
> the market with what ever that want.  
> And at the end of the day meeting the mission in a cost effective
> manner is the best business plan.

Sure, and "cost effective" means allot more than upfront cost.  Since
most businesses pay a pittance for desktop machines, let alone the
software on them,  the business case for LINUX is a pretty hard sell.

And all the noise about how bad Vista is misses the point - the fact is
that XP is in most cases good enough, hence the lack of a business case
for the pain/expense of Vista.  While techy types get worked up about,
often obscure, security issues most businesses, especially small
business (all small businesses?) just do-not-care.  They don't even
force password changes or strong passwords [I've *never* been in a shop
of less than 50 employees that even had a security policy].  A sane
configuration of XP is actually pretty secure, certainly enough for the
every-man to use.  And it is essentially free [despite all that blather
too - the cost of a desktop machine, M$ tax or no, puts it in the
disposable expense column.  People often pay more for their desk chair].

<aside>Not to mention that enforcing a decent security policy among
LINUX desktops is a major PITA and almost completely undocumented.  GDM
is going to tell you that the DSA is going to expire your account in 14
days if you don't change your password.... nope.  You can view/edit file
ACLs from nautilus... nope.  Firefox will work with NTLM or Kerberos
authentication for single sign-on to the proxy and/or intranet.... nope.
I could go one.  Despite all the rah-rag about security the support for
good security practices on LINUX sucks.</aside>

> Okay since I don't see any hands: 
> What about a YouTube short like the MAC PC  but as a Linux  PC
> commercial?

Novell already made several;  they are quite good as such things go.
You can download them from at least Novell's site.

-- 
Adam Tauno Williams, Network & Systems Administrator
Consultant - http://www.whitemiceconsulting.com
Developer - http://www.opengroupware.org