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MS Rails On Open Source, Appeals To Gov't Greed
Bill Harper writes "Open source software is a 'waste of money,' a Microsoft executive has said. He goes on to say that governments planning to use it will damage their own economies and that giving away source code is shooting yourself in the foot. What's interesting though is that this is just the latest in a series of nonsense arguments put forward by MS in Asia because it's scared of Linux stealing the market. An early one was that open-source software is anti-competitive!" Funny thing is, the MS executive (Chris Sharp) used to work for Red Hat.
Their site alone is a fairly good support tool. There aren't nearly as many resources, comprehensive or not, for Linux support. That's not a flaw of Linux - it's just history and inertia. As Linux becomes more mainstream, there will be much better free/generic support.
Mid-size and large companies often have support agreements (for a hefty price, but it's usually effective) with Microsoft. Call 'em up, get a person, and sometimes you'll get a fix just for your problem. Kinda makes you wonder what drives their patches - the future implications and risks, or the immediate buck behind the phone call?
So a Microsoft guy said Linux was a waste of money. Cue the mocking article.
How is it different from Linux zealots saying Windows is a "waste of money?" You guys are just as one-sided, closed-minded, and full of self-serving ideology as they are, except that it's worse with you because for them it's just a paying job, but for you it's a religious belief.
Calling attention to nonsense coming from MS is a huge public service. Thanks.
There are millions of Linux 'experts' in IRC channels and in Usenet groups. There are tons of half-written and often obsolete HOWTO documents. There are dozens of people telling you dozens of ways of doing each simple task.
That's not necessarily a good thing. It's not what management at a company wants to rely on. It's a good opportunity for sales-types to sell a Linux solution and clean up after the committment with support lock-ins, though. Again, that's not what management at a company wants to rely on.
I use Linux at home and have had a lot of success with it (I prefer NetBSD, personally, but that's an aside, I've used Slackware in various capacities since the first half of the 90's). I'm not sure I advocate it for everybody.
resigned
To be fair, you did say "..pushing their false religion" which is loaded enough to be asking for trouble.
Also why do you put your email address on slashdot if you don't accept unsolicited email?