FW: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com, Wednesday, June 27, 2001

Wed Jun 27 12:25:10 EDT 2001

Recently, there was an article on this list, I believe, that talked about
"Linux on the Desktop".

Here is an interesting rebuttal to that article.

Enjoy!

Stephen Dawes B.A. B.Sc.
Web Business Office, The City of Calgary
PHONE:  (403) 268-5527.
FAX: (403) 268-6423
E-MAIL ADDRESS:  sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca
Internet: http://www.gov.calgary.ab.ca

-----Original Message-----
From: OpenSource at bdcimail.com [mailto:OpenSource at bdcimail.com]
Sent: 2001 June 27 10:07 AM
To: sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca
Subject: NICHOLAS PETRELEY: "The Open Source" from InfoWorld.com,
Wednesday, June 27, 2001

========================================================
NICHOLAS PETRELEY:   "The Open Source"    InfoWorld.com
========================================================

Wednesday, June 27, 2001

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WHY THE LINUX DESKTOP?

Posted at June 22, 2001 01:01 PM PST Pacific

LAST WEEK I noted that the battle for open-source
advocates is not one for the desktop (see The Open
Source, June 18). Be that as it may, Microsoft is
obviously threatened by Linux on the desktop, as
evidenced by the rash of articles in various Web and
trade publications on this very topic, most of which
proclaim that Linux will never make it in this category.

Allow me to punch a few holes in the conventional
wisdom. Item No. 1: You shouldn't choose Linux just
because you hate Microsoft.

Despite what the Microsoft toadies may say, hating
Microsoft is an excellent reason to choose Linux. It
wouldn't be if there weren't so many good reasons to
hate Microsoft. But there are.

Let's start with how the company's lust for control
over the market takes precedence over the well-being
and security of its customers. For example, Microsoft
is hard at work devising ways to lock you into a
system where you pay on a continual basis to use a
Microsoft application. Microsoft is not doing this
because it is the best solution for its customers.
Microsoft is simply running out of ways to entice you
to pay for upgrades to its cash-cow applications. If
that doesn't elicit a feeling of righteous indignation
when you get your next blue screen of death or lose
data to an e-mail Trojan horse, I don't know what will.

Better yet, look at Microsoft's despicable, standard
modus operandi. Microsoft makes it standard practice
to say whatever it must to gain the confidence of its
prospective customers. But what Microsoft says is not
what Microsoft does. For example, Microsoft pretends
to promote standards such as Kerberos to convince its
customers that Windows will interoperate well with
other platforms. But Microsoft actually manipulates
the Kerberos standard with proprietary extensions to
retain control over the customers it captures.

The operative word here is confidence, which is where
the expression con man comes from. Con men can only
succeed if they gain the undeserved confidence of
their prey. If that's the kind of company you want to
defend and patronize, be my guest. But who then is the
fool -- the Microsoft customer who continues to pay
through the nose for crappy software or the satisfied
Linux customer who chose Linux because he or she hates
Microsoft?

Item No. 2: Linux is too complicated. Bzzt. KDE 2.1 is
amazingly simple and yet is powerful and flexible.
Granted, it is sometimes more difficult to administer
a Linux box than a Windows box, but users shouldn't
have to administer any box. And Linux makes that
easier to enforce than do most versions of Windows.
One reason Windows is difficult to administer is
because users can easily screw it up. With Linux, I
set up a box, create an account, and hand the box to
the user. The user doesn't have to deal with the
administration programs and doesn't even have enough
privileges to use (or abuse) them. Shall I go on? Let
me know.

Nick is the founding editor of VarLinux.org
(www.varlinux.org). Reach
him at nicholas @petreley.com.

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THE LATEST IN LINUX FROM INFOWORLD:

* Red Hat jumps into open-source database market
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/06/25/010625hnlinuxdb.xml?0626tu
li

* The resourceful CTO
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http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/06/25/010625opconnection.xml?062
6tuli

* Red Hat to announce open-source database app
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
http://www.infoworld.com/articles/hn/xml/01/06/21/010621hnreddb.xml?0626tuli

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Too often, technology is used as a crutch when planning the
security and risk-management phases of an online business
venture."

--Enterprise Strategies columnist James R. Borck advocates a
common sense approach to online security.

http://iwsun4.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/06/25/010625opborck.xml?0627w
eli

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This message was sent to:  sdawes at gov.calgary.ab.ca