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Bryan Lunduke at Network World calls out what other mainstream media have been too timid, or bought out, to call out. He starts by pointing out that choosing Microsoft Windows for your organization should get you fired and that if you haven't already replaced Windows, across the board, you absolutely stink at your job.
There. Finally the topic is broached in mainstream media and a proper discussion can now start among decision makers who can arrange complete migrations to GNU/Linux, Chrome/Linux, one of the BSDs, or a combination of them.
As Microsoft security problems continue to escalate since even the pre-networked, MS-DOS days, managers and front-line grunts will find themselves increasingly culpable for selecting unviable software, such as Microsoft Windows. If they wish to pay big bucks for maintenance, there are plenty of companies around to participate in the money. Canonical, Red Hat, M:Tier are just a sampling.
[Ed. Note: I debated whether or not to run this story — in some respects it's just the Windows vs *nix argument all over again. Also, there are proprietary programs which are critical for certain industries which currently only run on Windows. On the other hand, gaining a mention like this in the more mainstream media, does that mean we are approaching an inflection point? Witness the increased displeasure with Windows 10's telemetry and the difficulty in completely blocking it. What programs do you use that are only available on Windows? What keeps you from moving to another OS? --martyb]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by canopic jug on Friday June 30 2017, @01:14PM (2 children)
That's a real problem. I've watched it grow and spread. There are fewer IT people today than two decades back, in absolute numbers. Many of those posing as IT and especially managers and executives are simply resellers of M$. When, not if, their crap fails to deliver, they just put their hands up and claim that nothing can be done until the Next Version is purchased and deployed. Usually that keeps them from even pretending to address the problems for a long time.
We've been in that downward spiral a while and it's a real question about how to break out. You can't retool a poseur. First, the training isn't available anymore. Second, if there had been either ability or interest they would have learned on their own.
But if we don't break out, we'll end up with nothing that works.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday June 30 2017, @02:43PM (1 child)
Sounds like those business are ripe for some crushing competition?
Would that be profitable?
One way would be to offer something their inflexible IT system and their inability to handle it would put them at a disadvantage relative to any competition. Won't matter if they claim nothing can be done when customers take business elsewhere.
(Score: 2) by urza9814 on Friday June 30 2017, @07:24PM
That works for IT-centric businesses, but it's not really a solution in general. There's far more to most businesses than just the software. You can't just come up with a great design for a ticking system and start your own airline and crush American and Delta. You *might* be able to come up with another design and sell it to those guys, but you've gotta beat whatever they've invested millions in and built up over decades, so that's a huge up-front investment if you're planning to develop that independently and sell it to them later. So then you're left with starting a consulting firm and trying to convince them that your new ideas are gong to be cheaper than Tata or Infosys or whoever, even when those guys already have a head start on understanding the rest of the business. So probably it would have to come from an established consulting brand, which gets you back to the original problem of needing to convince management at these large corporations to do things differently.