[mdlug] A big opportunity for Linux?

[Aaron Kulkis]

Adam Tauno Williams wrote:
>> 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.

True.

> 
>> 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.
> 

Long term, windows is very expensive.
The admin/machine ratio is rediculously low for Windows.
Even at 2x the pay, Linux and Unix admins are cheaper,
because Windows is very labor-intensive to administrate.
I can admin 30 Unix machines, running four different
varieties of Unix (HP-UX, IRIX, AIX and Solaris), each
with its own custom configuration, than to admin
10 Windows XP machines all configured the same

I know this from experience, because I have done both.

And when the Unix machines have a standard configuration,
it's very easy to get machine/admin ratios that are
up in the hundreds.

The best I've ever seen for Windows is about 15:1.

> 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

I've never seen a need for ACL's in ANY environment outside
of those operating systems which are completely lacking in
any other form of file security.


> 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>

Every "convenience" is actually another security hole
waiting to be exploited.  Single-sign on is actually
one of the WORST ideas to ever come down the pike...

Authorized user signs onto his login... leaves his/her
desk.  Unauthorized user can now take advanatage of
single-sign to do all sorts of things that they
should not be allowed to do...and through either
maliciousness (backstab a coworker by doing things
under the coworker's ID) or ignorance (screwing
with things they don't fully understand) they can
cause real, damage-to-the-bottom-line sorts of
problems.



> 
>> 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.
> 

That's not putting it on TV where people will actually
watch it.