Skeleton in Linux closet?

[Bradley Miller]

At 01:23 PM 3/22/00 -0600, you wrote:
>1)  _All_ tech stocks have been getting beaten up recently on Wall Street.
>It isn't just Linux stocks.  This article is typical FUD.

True.

>2)  Linux doesn't need high stock prices to survive.  Many people make the
>assumption that Linux won't succeed unless mainstream business accepts it.
>Linux has _already_ succeeded.  It's a question of when mainstream
>business reads the writing on the wall and learns to do things our way.
>If they don't, they'll die off like the dinosaurs that they are.

I doubt they'll die off by not doing things "our way".  They've succeeded
up till now without doing it "our way" and I don't see any mass exodous
happening anytime soon.  

The point is, there isn't going to be any money to pump into start-ups or
existing distributions without stock holders.  Companies can only get so
far with out some real money behind them and an advertising budget to boot.
 Could you imagine ads for Linux during the SuperBowl?   Those don't come
cheap and they would sure get the general public thinking about a Microsoft
alternative.   Unfortunately unless a company is selling the heck out of
dist's and is managed very closely, they don't have the money to do
everything entirely on their own.  

Personally, the current desktop flavors of Linux aren't quite doing enough
to make it easy for the desktop user let alone the IT person wanting to
implement things.   Yes, you can cry that it's just a learning curve, but
people fail to realize there is an "un-learning" curve that is equally
important to look at.   It's easy to start someone from square one learning
a product, but to jump platforms and re-learn everything a different way
can be quite disconcerting.  I'm not a Microsoft supporter, but I tend to
be a realist when it comes down to things like this.   

It's sort of like this in comparison to cars and such.  You can show people
on paper that XYZ car whips another car in every aspect but it comes down
to it it's what the person really wants.  On paper the Camaro bests the
Mustang in every way, yet there are tons more Mustangs sold every year.
You can't go out and change public opinion without a fight or at least some
darn good marketing.      That is the most important thing to think about.

Bradley Miller, Programmer/webmaster
AccessZone Design - www.accesszonedesign.com
Blue Springs, Missouri office
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