a couple years back I had the problem the other way round, only one phone line but needed phone and fax
I used a phone/fax-switch for that problem then.
For example: http://faxswitch.com/sr_next.html (no advertising intended, just an example. Really.)
Something like this might stop at least your phone from ringing all the time.
though this would be a really nice thing to happen you should take into consideration that almost every Apple user had iTunes installed or was only a mouse click away from installing it.
So it the installed base was there and the iTMS was only an addon to iTunes.
On the PC you first have to get the message to the ppl that iTunes does exist, then to persuade them to install it (since everyone has already at least one player-application installed)and then to sign up with iTMS.
I think that it will take some time for iTunes to penetrate the windows-market if they succeed at all (which but be great)
Just my.02 cent
Afaik SCO has only sued IBM anything else is only FUD consisting of "open letters" and press releases and that is for a good reason since they don't have the resources to sue several hundred companies.
And you are right, once SCO stops there will be no more reason for offering indemnification.
Unfortunately it may well be several years before that is the case and in the meantime HP is trying to capitalize on the same fears you cited to get market share.
If this behaviour spreads than customers will demand indemnification from their suppliers which only the Biggies with deep pockets can provide without risking much.
Not something I want to see.
I doesn't necessarily have to come to this but it is a possible outcome and I rather prefered if HP had confronted SCO directly instead of thinking how they can spin the situation to their short term advantage.
...I'm afraid that others will follow in SCO's interpretation of HP's indemnification.
Looks like HP is trying to milk the situation for what it's worth in short term profits and damn the consequences in the long run for Linux as a whole.
I found this quote from Fink rather revealing: Fink used several marketing-type phrases about how SCO-proofing HP's Linux customers is, "differentiating ourselves from the market,"
They didn't think twice that maybe there is a little more at stake then getting a handful of customers to switch from IBM to HP.:-(
That's one way to interpret and it is the "good" interpretation of HP's move.
There's another "bad" interpretation which goes "If SCO's claims are without merit why does HP offer to protect me from it? Surely they is some meat to SCO's claims"
Maybe not the most likely interpretation of HP's action but one we will imho see in comments on HP's move.
And if in addition HP really as rumored has bought a license from SCO this will make SCO's claims even more good.
But it's a temporary thing until this gets run out of court
Whether this will be a temporary thing depends imho on at least two things:
First as you rightly pointed out this could be stopped if this is finished in court. But this may well take several years and after a certain point noone will drop their indemnification program.
Second the question is what happens if HP started a chain reaction? What if everyone who can afford it (IBM and other Biggies) starts their own indemnification program in response to HP?? I think it would be very hard then for a single vendor to drop their program.
I think that in the long run it would have been better if HP confronted SCO directly instead of offering this band-aid, probably hoping to boost their own business in the short term.
This may a good move for HP to attract or steal customers but I'm not sure if this is good for Linux as a whole.
First this may strengthen and not weaken SCO's claims ("If SCO is wrong as anybody claims why do they offer me indemnification?")
Second I think that smaller companies have a harder sell now to bring Linux to customers since they don't have the deep pockets to give the same indemnifications for their customers. If you can only sell Linux with an indemnification program only the Big Boys can do it and that is not something I want to see.
I don't think so since in the article it says "The indemnification program is limited to customers who receive a Linux distribution from HP, run it on HP hardware and have a support contract with HP"
Looks like you are out of luck
when I started using WYSIWYG-Editors I found I had the same problem, I endlessly fiddled to make what little text I managed to get down "nice" but didn't get any work done, at least not in time.
Since I find these nice buttons and icons and pulldown-menus hard to resist I now first write the content (mostly documentation) down in a plain text editor (like notepad or simpletext or whatever is available) and only after I wrote everything down I'll move the text over to one of these fancy word processors and try to make them look nice.
When the deadline arrives it's almost never perfect but at least it's complete and sometimes even pretty:-)
Slashdot Mirror
a couple years back I had the problem the other way round, only one phone line but needed phone and fax
I used a phone/fax-switch for that problem then.
For example: http://faxswitch.com/sr_next.html (no advertising intended, just an example. Really.)
Something like this might stop at least your phone from ringing all the time.
though this would be a really nice thing to happen you should take into consideration that almost every Apple user had iTunes installed or was only a mouse click away from installing it. .02 cent
So it the installed base was there and the iTMS was only an addon to iTunes.
On the PC you first have to get the message to the ppl that iTunes does exist, then to persuade them to install it (since everyone has already at least one player-application installed)and then to sign up with iTMS.
I think that it will take some time for iTunes to penetrate the windows-market if they succeed at all (which but be great)
Just my
Afaik SCO has only sued IBM anything else is only FUD consisting of "open letters" and press releases and that is for a good reason since they don't have the resources to sue several hundred companies.
And you are right, once SCO stops there will be no more reason for offering indemnification. Unfortunately it may well be several years before that is the case and in the meantime HP is trying to capitalize on the same fears you cited to get market share.
If this behaviour spreads than customers will demand indemnification from their suppliers which only the Biggies with deep pockets can provide without risking much.
Not something I want to see.
I doesn't necessarily have to come to this but it is a possible outcome and I rather prefered if HP had confronted SCO directly instead of thinking how they can spin the situation to their short term advantage.
...I'm afraid that others will follow in SCO's interpretation of HP's indemnification. :-(
Looks like HP is trying to milk the situation for what it's worth in short term profits and damn the consequences in the long run for Linux as a whole.
I found this quote from Fink rather revealing:
Fink used several marketing-type phrases about how SCO-proofing HP's Linux customers is, "differentiating ourselves from the market,"
They didn't think twice that maybe there is a little more at stake then getting a handful of customers to switch from IBM to HP.
That's one way to interpret and it is the "good" interpretation of HP's move.
There's another "bad" interpretation which goes "If SCO's claims are without merit why does HP offer to protect me from it? Surely they is some meat to SCO's claims"
Maybe not the most likely interpretation of HP's action but one we will imho see in comments on HP's move.
And if in addition HP really as rumored has bought a license from SCO this will make SCO's claims even more good.
But it's a temporary thing until this gets run out of court
.02 euro-cents
Whether this will be a temporary thing depends imho on at least two things:
First as you rightly pointed out this could be stopped if this is finished in court.
But this may well take several years and after a certain point noone will drop their indemnification program.
Second the question is what happens if HP started a chain reaction?
What if everyone who can afford it (IBM and other Biggies) starts their own indemnification program in response to HP??
I think it would be very hard then for a single vendor to drop their program.
I think that in the long run it would have been better if HP confronted SCO directly instead of offering this band-aid, probably hoping to boost their own business in the short term.
Just my
This may a good move for HP to attract or steal customers but I'm not sure if this is good for Linux as a whole.
First this may strengthen and not weaken SCO's claims ("If SCO is wrong as anybody claims why do they offer me indemnification?")
Second I think that smaller companies have a harder sell now to bring Linux to customers since they don't have the deep pockets to give the same indemnifications for their customers.
If you can only sell Linux with an indemnification program only the Big Boys can do it and that is not something I want to see.
I don't think so since in the article it says "The indemnification program is limited to customers who receive a Linux distribution from HP, run it on HP hardware and have a support contract with HP" Looks like you are out of luck
Since I find these nice buttons and icons and pulldown-menus hard to resist I now first write the content (mostly documentation) down in a plain text editor (like notepad or simpletext or whatever is available) and only after I wrote everything down I'll move the text over to one of these fancy word processors and try to make them look nice.
When the deadline arrives it's almost never perfect but at least it's complete and sometimes even pretty :-)