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Election 2006 (and beyond): Digital Copyright Canada
From: russell_-at-_flora.ottawa.on.ca (Russell McOrmond)
Date: 5 Jul 1999 11:33:56 -0400
Just thought I would forward this one. More information on Roaring
Penguin Software can be found at: http://www.roaringpenguin.com/
---
Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://russell.flora.org/work/>
Take the Propriatary vs Free Software challenge? Do propriatary
vendors offer any advantages to the consumer?
http://www.flora.org/flora.comnet-www/1491
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 5 Jul 1999 09:29:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: David F. Skoll <dfs@doe.carleton.ca>
Reply-To: oclug@list.achilles.net
To: oclug@list.achilles.net
Subject: Re: [oclug] Who to sue (was Re: Nortel and Microsoft)
[David]
> > No, that's a really stupid argument. Name one successful lawsuit
> > against any commercial software vendor for defective software. Go on,
> > just one.
> Look, you have to understand that business people, who don't know jack
> about this stuff, want to feel safe. They feel safe if someone is
> accountable.
Yes, but no-one is accountable for defects in Microsoft software. Worse
than that, because it's proprietary, you can't even fix it yourself or
hire a third party to do it for you.
> They do not if someone is not. Period. This is a fact, and
> all of your protests won't change that.
Having injected Linux at a formerly Windows-only company, and in the
process of converting several more Windows users over, my experience is
that patient discussion combined with real, visible cost savings penetrates
the mind of even the most pointy-haired.
> And if you think that it makes
> one bit of difference whether or not anyone has been successful in suing
> to date, you're naive. These people need their little security blankets
> because they don't understand what the people they are in charge of are
> doing, let alone what they would personally classify as "new, unproven
> technology, that may be just a fad".
Patience. They'll get it eventually.
> You talk to a high-level business person about Linux, and the first
> think they'll ask is, "Ok, who's accountable if it doesn't work?".
Ah. I am. I'm the consultant; I support it. And you're much more likely
to sue me successfully than Microsoft. :-)
Would you rather have support from someone who has source-code access
and UNIX programming skills, or a low-paid tech-support droid who
wouldn't know a pointer if it bit him on the backside? (Because
that's who answers the MS support line.)
> Complain all you like. They will still ask that. And if you tell them
> anything but a company name, they'll laugh in your face.
I have several company names: Red Hat, Caldera, H-P and IBM. And, of
course, Roaring Penguin Software Inc. :-)
--
David.
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