On Mon, 2004-05-03 at 12:17, Christopher Sawtell wrote: > Don: How about the notion of getting the management of Warehouse Stationery to > at least know that Linux exists? What would be involved in getting that far? > It would / could well be a good sell for them, as the cost of Linux is $0.00 > as against approximately $500+++ for Windows.
Not only that, but I believe The Warehouse purports to be an ethical company. Do they think that management would be comfortable with a newspaper headline proclaiming that most of the software that The Warehouse used was designed by and profits a convicted monopolist organisation? The shareholders might like it even less. Here's a little document I found on The Warehouse company ethics: http://www.apsu.edu/business/faculty/bakerrl/chap4w.html The gist follows: ----8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<---- Values and Ethics at The Warehouse The Warehouse in New Zealand is one of the world’s top discount retailers because of its social responsibility practices and “people first” values. “We have discovered that our policies of putting team members first … enables [them] to put the customers first and to provide exceptional service,” explains founder Stephen Tindall. - http://www.apsu.edu/business/faculty/bakerrl/chap4w.html ----8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<--------8<---- After all, isn't the role of the Warehouse board "Promoting and authorising ethical and responsible decision-making by the company." [Yes, it is. The Corporate Governance document is at http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/rexcomposer/files_download.asp?id=100003244&x=1] Their Code Of Conduct stipulates "Fair competition in all the markets in which the company operates." And they sell brands inlcuding Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and Compaq. Which carry only the Microsoft OS. Microsoft? Fair? Hahahahah Haaaaahahah! Now, I'm not proposing any form of "activism", because for all we know the top brass may go "Goodness, so we have. Best fix that sharpish!" and the nice thing to do is give them benefit of the doubt. We don't know if they're just being very quiet about supporting Linux somewhere else or actually have a product in the pipeline, which would leave us looking silly. But it'd be nice to see some actual activity... Vik :v( -- This PC runs Linux. If you find a virus apparently from me, it has forged the e-mail headers on someone else's machine. Please do not notify me when this occurs. Thanks.
