LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: Brian Astill <bastill@sa.apana.org.au>
  To  : Ian McLeod <drwho@firstlinux.net>
        <LinuxSA@linuxsa.org.au>
  Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2001 19:59:06 +0930

RE: MS Curriculum at schools and TAFEs ...

On Mon, 23 Apr 2001, Ian McLeod wrote:

> I admire Microsoft.  And I think as long as they
> understand the importance of marketing and publicity - 
> call it 'dumbing down' or 'selling out' as much as
> you wish - Microsoft will pervail and rightfull so.
> 
> If *nix users don't take a similar attitude - then
> *nix will rightfully be a specialist market.

Ian,
You are not alone in overlooking the obvious:
-----------------------------------------------
M$ is a COMMERCIAL enterprise - and has been for many years.
M$ was built - from inception - on MARKETING rather than technical
expertise.
M$ has HUGE resources, such that they can successfully challenge the
government of the richest country in the World - the US.

Linux, FreeBSD and compatriots are FREE NON-COMMERCIAL systems.
The software people tend to run on those systems are also FREE
NON-COMMERCIAL products.
There is no huge bank of resource available for marketing purposes.

Only slightly less obvious is that *nix only became more-or-less
universally possible for desktops with the advent of the 80386 systems.
The easily installed easily used easily maintained GUI *nix desktop
system is probably no more than 5years old, if that, and really needs
not less than a 486 system. ie M$ already had an established market
base years before desktop *nix was a proposition.
-------------------------------------------------

Can we PLEASE resile from the obsessive demands that
Linux/LinuxSA/AUUG/whomever MUST do whatever is suggested to "combat"
Microsoft?  The resource differential is simply too great for us to contemplate
such a battle.
Among the things we CAN do are run installfests, introduce *nix to
schools (which is one reason I want the SA installfest to be held on
school premises), lobby for TAFE Linux courses (some already exist),
distribute CD's as freely as possible, lobby governments, etc - all
things that can be done at minimal cost.
Ultimately the cost/benefit of *nix and the poor quality and
vulnerability of M$ products will (probably) see Open Source and the
free unices become standard.

-- 
Regards,
Brian

********************************************************
Dr Brian Astill  Visiting Research Fellow
Flinders University Institute of International Education
Bus 8201 3480     FAX 8449 9199
bastill@sa.apana.org.au
********************************************************

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