George Bonser <grep@oriole.sbay.org> writes: > Just to give an example of what Linux is up against: [Good example deleted] Where I used to work 3 years ago (MacMillan Bloedel, Canada's largest forestry company) was mostly an HP-3000 shop, with some HP-9000 HP/UX Unix machines, some Tandems, and they were just getting into Windows NT. Now they have many more Windows NT boxes, and there are a few "secret" Linux boxes hidden away in the corners. Those were put in by one fairly senior guy in the IS department who has been using Linux way before I was (he's also a ham radio type). Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of Unix expertise on staff. Most of the staff is struggling with switching from writing COBOL apps to Visual Basic and Windows NT apps. They are just getting into "Intranet" stuff (I set up the original Intranet there, back before anybody coined the term) I think it would be a real uphill struggle to replace Windows NT and HP in that environment. Both Microsoft and HP have full time reps dedicated to selling stuff into the company. The amount of marketing information and hype that Microsoft kicks out to the developers is truly amazing. I have a lot of respect for Microsoft - I mean, how good they must be at marketing to brainwash these developers so completely. Even so, most people don't really "trust" Microsoft. But they aren't going to jump ship until everyone else does first. (Is it any wonder I quit?) Anyways, there is still lots of opportunity to sell into these markets. There is lots of resistance to Linux on the in-house developer level (just because they don't know it). They won't be into Linux until they replace their "VB Developers Journal" subscription with a "Linux Journal" subscription. This isn't going to happen very soon (until they are pushed). Fortunately for Linux, the IS department is not universally loved. They've made a lot of enemies in the past. The decision makers quite often go outside the IS department to do things. The forestry industry is quite capital intensive - so many they purchase many "capital projects" (bundled in with big mill upgrades) which the IS department isn't initially involved in. The decision makers do realize that Linux is a good technical solution in many cases (the trade rags have said so). So selling "black box" systems - or outsourced subsystems - is possible. But this requires somebody to stand behind it and to do the actual work. In most cases, this is lacking for Linux based solutions. Most big consulting companies have built strong relationships with commercial vendors (or they are commercial vendors), so it is proprietary solutions that get sold into business. I don't think we will have much success selling Linux solutions into environments where people are not ready to accept them (as in your Samba example). But there is still plenty of work in other areas. Cheers, - Jim
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