[Gllug] Linux to benefit from council outrage

[Bruce Richardson]

On 10/18/01, 1:02:00 AM, Mike Brodbelt <mike at coruscant.demon.co.uk> wrote 
regarding Re: [Gllug] Linux to benefit from council outrage:

> John Hearns wrote:
> Maybe it's just me, but I think the last month or two has seen a
> distinct increase of "looking for MS alternatives and considering Linux
> seriously" articles in the trade rags.

Definitely.  Even Computer Weakly and the Guardian Online section.

> I think Microsoft's new licensing strategy may well end up doing them
> more harm than good - even though they've backed down a bit, an *awful*
> lot of people seem to be very pissed off with them. Cynic that I am, I
> think a lot of the anger comes from people who've bought into vendor
> lock in ouf of laziness/herd mentality, and are now looking more and
> more stupid as Microsoft's demands become more outrageous.

> What does eveyone else think?

I read a wise comment in some opinion column recently, to the effect that 
Microsoft are masters at judging how much the customer will take (whether 
in new features or extra charges).  They may have bid high this time but 
they can afford to renegotiate.  Anger has brought a new unity to 
IT-dependent companies but I think they'll mostly use their newfound 
leverage to bargain MS down.  There'll be some movement to Linux but not 
a flood.  Enough to change the status and momentum behind Linux, perhaps.

MS have always offered the no-brainer (and often brainless) solution.  
People looking at the switch to Linux will have to be prepared to think 
and keep on thinking, which many of them won't be prepared to do.  There 
is no unified body behind Linux that can act quickly to take advantage of 
this opportunity or to say to wavering MS users "Come this way and we can 
guide you and help you find the answers" or to answer their fears and 
correct their many misapprehensions.

Add to that the dismaying number of IT staff who know no more than how to 
point and click and tick boxes and you don't have a recipe for change. 
There are whole IT departments made like that, whose response to each new 
task is to look for the corresponding commercial windows application and 
who lack the ability to do anything that isn't a tick-box option in one 
of those apps.

IT people tend to be resistant to change - they don't like to see their 
skills made obsolete (even though MS does it to them all the time).  
Despite the several core systems now running on Linux here, my colleagues 
still make jokes about "Bruce's favourite OS" and don't hawe any 
intention of learning the first thing about it.  They have simply become 
used to throwing cash at each problem (often £Thousands) and hoping the 
application they buy will work.  If it doesn't, more thousands.  When I 
put in a solution using existing tools and it just works, they don't take 
it seriously.  If it was that easy, it can't have been a serious problem. 
 Maddening.

-- 

Bruce

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