not ready for the enterprise--as in where it can't compete--then there would be something to talk about. But as it was, the column was just a
Linux being ready for the "enterprise" is not the question. The question is rather "is the enterprise ready for Linux"?
Mainframe-level entities (JD Edwards/People Soft/ SAP) software could probably run on a beefed-up Linux machine (our boat anchor at Revo ran JD Endwards on AS/400 and had gigs of RAM).
Linux, and the open source movement in general, is a classic example of paradigm shift. Management doesn't get paradigm shift all that often.
The one big obstacle to open source / Linux is the idea that anything one gets from the "internet" could be loaded with virii and g-d knows what else. Ergo, all software has to be purchased shrink-wrapped with manuals, support contracts, licences, and etc. And if Purchasing doesn't know about you, they can't buy you. I ran into this attitude back in the days of Denial Of Service (DOS) shareware. There were quite a few useful tools back then -- management would say "virus" if you tried to use them.
Good points.
Another interesting feature of the article is his attitude to programmers (who, as he says, love Linux). They are seen as a necessary but inherently untrustworthy element in a business organisation, and putting software too much in the hands of programmers would be dangerous - much better to buy shrink-wrapped software, and limit your geeks to fixing it when it goes wrong and writing templates for Word.
Robin
-- "Some guy breaking into a government computer system and wreaking havoc makes for a more interesting movie plot than some guy writing device drivers. It's hard to work in a good 10-minutes car chase scene with some guy who writes device drivers..." - tjc, post to LWN
Robin Turner IDMYO Bilkent Univeritesi Ankara 06533 Turkey
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin
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