Robert Locke wrote: > On Sat, 2004-07-03 at 12:11, Chuck_Sterling wrote: > >> <OT RAMBLE> >> >> As I type this, I'm trying to get a handle on, for want of a better >> term, the "politics" of Linux. Not the legal questions re: M$ and SCO >> et al, but where Linux in general, commercial Linux distributions >> (RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, etc.), and Fedora Core fit into the IT >> world. > > <snip> > >> Opinions, omissions, misspellings: all are mine. >> >> </OT RAMBLE> >> >> > >> > HTH in the future, >> >> I'm sure it will. >> Thanks again, >> Chuck >> >> > Chuck, > > Since no-one else seems to be taking you up on the ramble, let me > offer a few opinions..... > > I think there is currently an assumption that computing is broken into > several categories.... Perhaps the most lucrative category is that of > "servers". It is in this category that commercial releases of Linux > seem to be destroying the various flavors of Unix. > > Linux's success as an enterprise server now has many of it's > proponents > exploring it's viability on a desktop. I would further opine that the > desktop is also broken into two categories: corporate and consumer. A > standard corporate desktop that needs basic "office" tools (word > processor, spreadsheet, and presentation), a java-enabled web browser, > and email is already being handily met by Linux today. <snip> > Read up on the often quoted: It's not about free beer, it's about > freedom of choice!! That is what GNU and Linux are all about and what > we are fighting for! > > --Rob I can't argue with that. I use Linux at home for a desktop for email, news, browsing, and things along those lines. I dual-boot WinXP for lots of other apps, plus my kids, all in college, use Windows for homework and such. At $WORK I have four elderly Intel boxes with RH 7.3 boxen providing secondary DNS service, and a couple others, slightly less elderly, in my office running network tools like nmap and such. Once in a while I will use one of them for some office-related work but that's the exception to the rule. So far as I know (and I should know), nobody else there uses Linux at all. I would like to see some real, serious, and user-friendly, Linux-based competition for M$ on the desktop. IMO *nix already and historically leads the server world; the challenge is retaining the lead. There are a LOT of newcomers to IT that start and stay with M$ Windows platforms; these are the decision-makers that will be there after oldguys like me retire. Perhaps I should get into management after all and be in a position to do more than complain... Anyway, thanks for the feedback on this and other items... Chuck
