Peter da Silva wrote:
>
> In article <[log in to unmask]>,
> Terry C. Shannon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > Well, as long as people keep buying Microsoft products and patches
> > ("Upgrades" in Redmond-speak), Microsoft will continue to pursue the same
> > strategy.
>
> A good many sensible people are using Windows not because they want to,
> but because they have to. People don't generally buy an operating
> system because they want to run that OS. They buy it because they need
> to run X, Y, and Z applications, and they run on it. Desktop apps run
> on Windows. So what option is there?
>

Don't remind me.  We have 18 NT servers, several of which regularly
remind us of their existence by needing to be rebooted, and they take
top priority in getting patched, while our MPE, HPUX, Netware, SUN
and Linux machines go along happily (most of the them).

At least when we come as close as we can standardizing on Lunix over
the coming several years we can leverage automation of many systems
administration tasks and economize on staff skill sets.  Plus, there
is the cost savings to look forward to.

As Microsoft prices itself higher and higher, we'll be moving
servers off of it.

> Microsoft is no longer just another software company. They can no longer
> be allowed to act like one, because the normal checks and balances of the
> market no longer apply to them.
>

Sounds like the former IBM.

I try to ignore the desktop, but Linux with KDE seem to be coming
along well, yet there is a long way to go for the "average" PC
user.  Maybe a thin client solution will develop, or maybe Apple
will get smart and port their "desktop" to generic IA-64 Linux.
Still, someone will need to really challenge Microsoft in the
Office arena - it is really too bad the company wasn't broken up.

Richard
--
Richard L Gambrell, Senior Information Technology Consultant and
Director of Computing Systems and Networks
Information Technology Division, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
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