A Clearinghouse for Linux Market Data? 21
avdi asks: "Every day we see stories on this site and others about how another movie studio is using Linux for production, another Fortune 500 company has switched to Linux to support their infrastructure, another local or national government has mandated use of Open Source technology, or another major vendor has begun marketing a Linux-based product line. Clearly Linux, Open Source, and Free Software has arrived, and in some areas is marching towards dominance. Yet deep in the beige-walled cubicles of the biggest corporations, where Nobody Ever Got Fired for Buying Microsoft (or Sun, or...) the people who make technology decisions have yet to hear of it. In the land of BigCo, Open Source technologies have an artificially low profile due to the insularity of the corporate culture, the marketing budgets of vendors, and are often viewed as risky, untested curiosities. Is anyone out there gathering all the success stories together in an up-to-date, management-readable format? Is anyone collecting hard data on the number of major companies which have trusted mission-critical systems to Linux, the number of vendors who have invested a significant amount in Open Source-based product lines, the amounts saved by various departments which have migrated from proprietary to Free software? Where does one go when researching data in order to sell management on Linux or some other Free Software solution?"
For one... (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure all the other major Linux businesses have similar archives.
A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help? (Score:1, Informative)
Make it a special event so they know they're in for a show.
Give them handouts with screenshots so they can see each application.
Even give them an intro to Freshmeat & SourceForge.
Finally point out how Open Source (and its ilk) tends to be more standards compliant and evolutionary than MicroSoft.
And I guess you'd have to include a page to discuss OS licensing.
Just be careful as to whether or not you invite Stallman. That could be a deal killer.
Re:A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help? (Score:3, Informative)
Koha [koha.org]
Re:A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help? (Score:2)
where is your library? (Score:1)
A couple of suggestions:
1) Triage
If you have any net-browsing terminals in the library, for instance, what OS are they running? Granted, existing ones may be a sunk expense, but as the calendar pages turn, do you need to replace them with the Dells-running-Windows that my local library does?
2) Knoppix. Even if it doesn't lead to the higher-ups instantly dropping all current software and hardware, making pilgrimages to Lourdes, etc, demo-ing Knoppix is a great way to show that Yes, there are word-processing apps, spreadsheets, (very nice) web browsers, etc. If your library has any computers for kids to use, I suggest the version of Knoppix from OSEF (http://osef.org/) version -- it's the ISO mentioned which is (as of today) still high up on their front page.
timothy
I think your missing the big picture. (Score:5, Insightful)
I can find 40 low to middle end developers at the drop of a hat, good or bad on the cheap and quick.
That is the #1 problem with open source, it has not reached critical mass for there to be a huge amount of cheap programers. Yes there are many out there, but in now means the numbers that microsoft has.
If you could hire 5 php/mysql/mono programmers and a project manager in less than a week and pay under 250k a year for all of them that is when you will get the corporate world to stand up and notice. Pluse keep in mind that the person looking for these people is going to need to understand what they hell he is trying to find. Until then, it is not cost effective or easy to do even if the OS and software is free.
That's pure FUD (Score:3, Insightful)
Give me 8 people who can navigate a Linux distribution and have decent systems and programming skills, and I'll beat those 40 low to middle end developers that you hired at a drop of a hat. It is not unusual to find that productivity varies by a factor of 10 to 100 in typical group of programmers, so it means nothing to say that you can find N people with X skill.
Further, I claim that OS programming languages and environments are more standards compliant than all the crap MS is peddling, and any quality systems architect will put a big emphasis on designing with well established open standards. Investment in software systems is always a long term deal, and the only way to protect that investment is by sticking with standards that do not depend on the success of a particular vendor.
Re:That's pure FUD (Score:2)
I think you proved my point, and or I did not get my point across.
At no point did I say the 40 would be better than say your 8. What I did say it that you have people in the upper management that are making the picks and they see a big pool of cheap labor. Easy to find Labor and project managers that are use to working with Microsoft products.
You give me a unix project manager worth his salt, and 8 programers worth there salt and hell yea it is going to be better than low to mid level microsoft programers. No kidding....My point it they are harder to find and hire quickly. When all they corporation knows is microsoft, and all the managers know is microsoft you have a hard road to travel. Period.
Your not addressing my point which is that Microsoft is established up the food chain in US corps. Linux is not. Change is not greeted with open arms until you can prove before you do it that it will work, fast, and cheaper than what you have moving forward. This is not easy to do and you have servers already in place with everything they need on it already. To do a project like that you would need new servers, someone with the knowledge to do it etc..etc.. Why do that when I can leverage what I have, not hire more people or use people from a different project.
It is not all about dollars bud, it is about using what you have and trust in house already and change.
short story...they use what they have and know.
Had to fight that if you have not ground level working knowledge of something outside of the system admin and a couple of your star programmers asking for it.
Sorry your arguement is valid it jsut does not address my point.
Re:That's pure FUD (Score:3, Insightful)
I also dispute your point about the position of MS on the 'food chain'. MS development environments and tools have never been all that significant when organizations plan and implement 'enterprise' class systems to their own specifications. Sure, if you are slapping something together to scratch an itch ..., but if you are really going to spend some bucks on a project that has to deliver value over a number of years, your going to worry about standards and protecting the investment.
I know that a lot of projects, particularly in small or mid-sized companies, just get thrown together and nobody ever thinks about the long-term, but these are time bombs for any organization that has them. Eventually somebody gets burned. If I had to guess, I would say this is as much a source of the growing anti-MS sentiment as the apparent low priority the MS puts on security related problems. Managers don't have to fully understand this the way I am explaining it to know that they have been screwed by using MS tools for critical systems.
WRT the question posed, I think it is just as important to build the database with negative cases where organizations are hurt because they didn't protect their future by using open standards. It is the only way to ensure you will have migration paths and good choices available down the road.
Re:I think your missing the big picture. (Score:2, Interesting)
The whole idea is to pay for what you use. Since most Open Source makes you pay for the knowledge, instead of for the "Right to use" those people SHOULD stay more expensive than the "per license" seat specialists...
In fact... it only makes sense, in a market economy, that if a customer has X money for a project, and you reduce costs, it ends up partly in the pockets of the people who help you save that money... Otherwise they'll go save money... for someone else...
--
Being a cheapskate does not pay
Not paying for more than you need/use does...
PHBs seldom seem to understand that
I had gathered all the success stories (Score:1)
And where should they go... (Score:1)
"The Business and Economics of Linux and Open Source" by Martin Fink