[KLUG Advocacy] Re: [KLUG Members] Sabotaging Linux?

[Adam Tauno Williams]

> Is Microsoft using its considerable resources to
> hinder adoption of
> Linux on the desktop?  Outspoken IT consultant John H.
> Terpstra thinks so, and in this three part series, he
> intends to prove it.

And Terpstra is a respectable kind of guy (verses people like stallman
and others who come across as whack jobs).

> Stopping Linux desktop adoption sabotage, part one:
> <http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1134910,00.html>

This is the only one I've read so far.

1.) "Finally, in part three, I'll predict a future that could happen,
one in which a monopoly leads the U.S. IT industry"  - I believe this is
already happening.  But not just because of M$-Monopoly, but because of
the attitudes that created the M$ monopoly in the first place.  My
perception is that the general "American" attitudes to science,
technology, and even management are simply not suitable to the 21st
century.  We have so many companies, from the big-three automakers on
down, that *RULED* the roost for the better part of the century but seem
incapable of change and with management constantly proposing magic
bullet solutions and course-correction through cost cutting (how about
selling a better product!?  Which means investing in technologies,
engineers, etc....).  American management screwed-the-poooch as the
saying goes;  the 21st century was ours for the taking, only we weren't
really interested.  This goes WAY beyond technology, it is a cultural
short coming.
2.) I think his example is not terribly true, although it certainly
happens to many many people.  But how about - if you really want to try
LINUX - doing a bit of research first.  It has been a long time since I
purchased any hardware that didn't work with LINUX,  but I take the time
to check first.  I purchased a new laptop... and everything from the
display, to the wireless, to the audio just works.
3.) The paying-for-windows-thing.  Yes, this is irritating.  But I think
LINUX-installed computer suppliers charge more primarily because their
volume is *SO* much lower.  If someone was shipping 100,000 LINUX units
a month,  you'd see nice low prices.

> Stopping Linux desktop adoption sabotage, part two:
> <http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1134908,00.html>
> Stopping Linux desktop adoption sabotage, part three:
> <http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1134909,00.html>