A Clearinghouse for Linux Market Data?

avdi asks: "Every day we see stories on this site and others about how another movie studio is using Linux for production, another Fortune 500 company has switched to Linux to support their infrastructure, another local or national government has mandated use of Open Source technology, or another major vendor has begun marketing a Linux-based product line. Clearly Linux, Open Source, and Free Software has arrived, and in some areas is marching towards dominance. Yet deep in the beige-walled cubicles of the biggest corporations, where Nobody Ever Got Fired for Buying Microsoft (or Sun, or...) the people who make technology decisions have yet to hear of it. In the land of BigCo, Open Source technologies have an artificially low profile due to the insularity of the corporate culture, the marketing budgets of vendors, and are often viewed as risky, untested curiosities. Is anyone out there gathering all the success stories together in an up-to-date, management-readable format? Is anyone collecting hard data on the number of major companies which have trusted mission-critical systems to Linux, the number of vendors who have invested a significant amount in Open Source-based product lines, the amounts saved by various departments which have migrated from proprietary to Free software? Where does one go when researching data in order to sell management on Linux or some other Free Software solution?"

Comments

For one...

[Otter]

Red Hat's inventory of case studies and whatnot

I'm sure all the other major Linux businesses have similar archives.

Re:A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help?

[Anonymous Coward]

I would just inventory what their needs are, grab the stuff onto your demo system and then go in and show them everything.
Make it a special event so they know they're in for a show.
Give them handouts with screenshots so they can see each application.
Even give them an intro to Freshmeat & SourceForge.
Finally point out how Open Source (and its ilk) tends to be more standards compliant and evolutionary than MicroSoft.
And I guess you'd have to include a page to discuss OS licensing.

Just be careful as to whether or not you invite Stallman. That could be a deal killer.

Re:A problem for "smallcos" too - can you help?

[matthewyoung]

You might want to look at this library system that is GNU.
Koha