[SC.LUG] Couple of interesting articles on Linux

[Richard Smedley]

Jason Lucas wrote:

>Whitehall signs up to Linux trials:
>http://www.silicon.com/0,39024729,39117271,00.htm
>  
>
This is an interesting story - Sun's solution isn't 100% Free
Software. However it is a fairly open platform - Java is
probably perceived by MS sa a bigger threat than GNU on
the desktop atm.
Of course they may just be sabre rattling - running trials to
negotiate down the licence fees they pay - but it's difficult to
see how the trials can have other than a positive conclusion
(famous last words ;^)

> I'm really surprised that the UK government & businesses seem to be so
> slow in adopting Linux compared to other countries. Any theories?

Big business is not slow - it's small businesses that are conservative,
and the UK has more small businesses than most :-/

As to government the main problem there is that they have
no knowledge of most technology fields, and tend to listen
to self-appointed industry experts (with a vested interest in
the status quo).

Ultimately it's hard to see the uk gov resisting Free Software
forever  - these trials are an example of what a friend calls
``eating the elephant one bite at a time'' - gradually GNU/Linux
builds up small wins until it makes one great big win :-)

 - Richard

--


Today I be mostly reading about dirt:
http://www.soilassociation.org/