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Microsoft Segments Linux "Personas"
RJ2770 writes "Microsoft has started a project for their partners to help identify the personas of different Linux users in an attempt to sway them toward Microsoft products. In addition to the web site there is a podcast on the market research behind the project, again directed at Microsoft's selling partners."
"I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant."
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Well the copyright date is from 2006 and look at this Whois result.
F www.linuxpersonas.com&tld=com
http://www.whois.net/whois_new.cgi?d=http%3A%2F%2
The word 'Microsoft' has the ® symbol following it while 'Linux' does not. Isn't the word 'Linux' copyrighted too?
Microsoft has been taking Linux seriously for some time. That's why they underwrote SCO's bullshit action against IBM. Quite frankly, I wouldn't want to be the guy reporting to Ballmer "They reason they like Linux is because they think you're a lying, thieving fuck with anger issues."
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
They forgot to list the segment of the population who hate Microsoft passionately - due to their business practices, their monopoly, their DRM, their lack of ethics, their EULA which forces you to give up your freedom of speech, their proprietary file formats, their Microsoft Word specifically, and perhaps more reasons.
And then there are the people who believe that Linux has superior design, that the user is more in control of what the computer does, that linux is more virus-resistant, easier to work with and so on.
I think Microsoft should divide all the "win over" percentages on their website by 10.
"Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
What? I'm a professional web designer, and we get hired out to do these things all the time. Not all of Microsoft's PR is going to be internal, these things do get outsourced, you know.
You've just outlined the major reason that scientific programming is not done under Windows. When you're relying on your system to stay online for 3 days while it's compiling or running a simulation, you don't use something that crashes all the time or will restart itself or prompts you for updates, or may even interrupt whatever it is you're doing. The reason my school has a *nix lab is because we use it for scientific programming. It's not something the IT department seems to care about. We wouldn't even think of writing anything truly important for Windows.
SRSLY.
For those who don't want to read all the comments, here's the summary:
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However, according to the FAQ at linuxmark.org,
Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
For those too lazy to watch the presentation, here are the personas:
Linux Experimenter Characteristics: "Tester" of Linux, willing to try Microsoft, Windows is the default choice for servers.Sales pitch: don't experiment, use Windows, it's tried and true. Market Follower Characteristics: Prefer Microsoft, risk-averse, don't really like Linux.
Sales pitch: Windows is the best in the enterprise. Look beyond initial cost to maintenance and reliability. Application Driven Characteristics: Like Linux because it works and it's reliable.
Sales pitch: more productivity and lower TCO with Windows. Linux Aficionado Characteristics: Believe Linux is just better.
Sales pitch: lower TCO, more reliable, remember to avoid Microsoft vs Open Source. UNIX Transitioner Characteristics: Wants to take UNIX apps to Linux, not familiar with Windows.
Sales pitch: IIS is more secure, better TCO.
Actually, the OSS world does have use cases. For example, see Ubuntu's use cases:
You bought a product for use with 1 liscense at a time.
Absolutely correct. A monopoly can set those license terms. There is no negotiation, no user specifications to be met by the vendor.
Now there is an alternative. I can have a site license for my software. It's just not from Microsoft.
The truth shall set you free!
Hans has not yet been convicted.
Sure, his wife is missing, but if there is no body then it's not clear that there has been a murder and even if there has been, there's no evidence to connect him to the deed.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
Hans Reiser?
First of all he was not convicted of anything yet, so it would be polite to consider him innocent until proved guilty.
Second, he develops a file system not "Linux", ReiserFS could be very well used in other OSes including Windows.
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
It's all about support. People aren't buying Linux software per se, they're buying enterprise support agreements. (Obviously, these are companies buying these, not people at home.) When they need help configuring their new RHEL system, they call up Red Hat and get help. If there's a bug, they call RH. When vulnerabilities are found in the software, RH provides updates to fix them. And the whole thing is packaged in a way that's convenient for corporate IT departments to deploy and maintain.
What's more, a typical RHEL or SLES distribution has a lot more software than just the "OS": it also contains a web server, databases, office software, etc. MS has these too, but it sells them as separate components, and then charges you extra for support.