Comments on: 'Sandal and ponytail set' cramping Linux adoption?

Yes, says former Massachusetts CIO Peter Quinn. To be taken seriously, open-source community needs to dress the part.

[Jim Hubbard]

I'll grow a 3rd teat.....

before these Linux shops evere "get it".

It's not the clothes Einstein.....it's the product's model for taking over the desktop.

Geez! Open source would be a great thing if the guys in charge of such products would get their heads out of their output ports and look at just what made Microsoft the HUGE success it is today!

There is no shame in adopting a business model that works.....but, there is shame (and the obvious failure) that goes with ignoring it.

If a Linux distro would listen to (and implement) just 3 basic concepts, they could take begin the real takeover of the desktop in as little as 2 years.

But, as much as I wish they would, they won't. They won't even listen.

It's suprising that a group of people that know so damned much that they don't even entertain ideas different from thiers can be such collosal failures at thier stated goal of desktop dominance.

At this point, Linux and Apple are the consumers' worst enemies. They exist solely as an excuse for Microsoft to get out of being broken up (OS from apps) as a monopoly.

They certainly aren't viable as a desktop alternative.

TO ANY DISTRO HEADS THAT MAY BE READING THIS THREAD : Go ahead (if you got the penguin pits for it) and contact me - HubbardSoftware.net. I'll be glad to show you what you are missing and why (until you get what you are missing) you'll always be a footnote in desktop history.

[Jim Hubbard]

I'll grow a 3rd teat.....

before these Linux shops evere "get it".

It's not the clothes Einstein.....it's the product's model for taking over the desktop.

Geez! Open source would be a great thing if the guys in charge of such products would get their heads out of their output ports and look at just what made Microsoft the HUGE success it is today!

There is no shame in adopting a business model that works.....but, there is shame (and the obvious failure) that goes with ignoring it.

If a Linux distro would listen to (and implement) just 3 basic concepts, they could take begin the real takeover of the desktop in as little as 2 years.

But, as much as I wish they would, they won't. They won't even listen.

It's suprising that a group of people that know so damned much that they don't even entertain ideas different from thiers can be such collosal failures at thier stated goal of desktop dominance.

At this point, Linux and Apple are the consumers' worst enemies. They exist solely as an excuse for Microsoft to get out of being broken up (OS from apps) as a monopoly.

They certainly aren't viable as a desktop alternative.

TO ANY DISTRO HEADS THAT MAY BE READING THIS THREAD : Go ahead (if you got the penguin pits for it) and contact me - HubbardSoftware.net. I'll be glad to show you what you are missing and why (until you get what you are missing) you'll always be a footnote in desktop history.

[rlaw68]

You're all homos...

...sapiens, that is :-) ...but where did your thought process go when you read that subject line?

Alright, now we're getting down to it. We all have immediate reactions to words, sights, overt attitudes/beliefs, etc. We're wired for it; it's a survival instinct.

Counterculture anything is suspected by the "suits" because they know that you don't like (to put it mildly) what (you think) they stand for, how (you think) they live their lives, make decisions, try to screw you over, etc.

Here's an example: I'm not exactly a big fan of the folks currently running the country/world. Which will work better: donning a tie-dye serape and singing "hey hey, ho ho [fill in the blank] has got to go" and writting an angry blog or trying to creatively apply my intelligence to learn from how they got their power and position and try to help put others in that same power and position to better affect the changes I want?

Lose the anger at the way corporate America works, buys software, and dresses and you will begin to make progress if you have a superior product and approach.

Keep the anger and the ponytails and you'll remain in a cube somewhere thinking how unfair it all is.

The really important point is that you don't have to cave in on your beliefs or morals, but you DO most certainly have to play the game if you want to win it.

[Jim Hubbard]

Here, here!

Well said.

[theoldman59]

Some people do get it!

Finally, someone notes that Business is a game. You win games by learning the rules, and by the way, you can't reprogram or change the rules in this one.

The "Suits" have the money. If You want the Suits to put that money into Open Source. Then you need to give the Suits something they consider of value for thier money.

Linux Servers seem meet that criteria. Not against Windows, but against HPUX and other Unix OS's that are expensive.

Desktop? Open Source is so far from what the Suits want and the people pushing it are so noisy, it scares the suits and their money away.

So long as the Suits are the enemy, Open Source will be relegated to extremely technical options, but never the mainstream average user.

Problem is that as soon as the Open Source community caters to the Suits, the Pirate mentality must go. Most in the Open Source community are there just to be totally independant of the Suits. Seems like the Classic Deadly Embrace. Each waiting for the other to respond.

Suits worry about stupid things like getting sued by the Record Industry. Every try to legally play a DVD on Linux? My understanding is that it can't be done because no one ever purchased the rights to the Codecs required to decode the DVD. Software is there, but not legally.

This stuff scares the suits to death. They have better things to do than defend themselves from 800 lb gorillas.

Give the suits what they want and Open Source will bounce MS in less than a decade.

Problem is that Open Source doesn't give the suits what they want and never has.

I've been following Open Source for over 8 years now. The story hasn't changed. Lots of claims, lots of whining about how stupid the suits are.

Change the tune and demolish MS. It just might work.

[theoldman59]

Some people do get it!

Finally, someone notes that Business is a game. You win games by learning the rules, and by the way, you can't reprogram or change the rules in this one.

The "Suits" have the money. If You want the Suits to put that money into Open Source. Then you need to give the Suits something they consider of value for thier money.

Linux Servers seem meet that criteria. Not against Windows, but against HPUX and other Unix OS's that are expensive.

Desktop? Open Source is so far from what the Suits want and the people pushing it are so noisy, it scares the suits and their money away.

So long as the Suits are the enemy, Open Source will be relegated to extremely technical options, but never the mainstream average user.

Problem is that as soon as the Open Source community caters to the Suits, the Pirate mentality must go. Most in the Open Source community are there just to be totally independant of the Suits. Seems like the Classic Deadly Embrace. Each waiting for the other to respond.

Suits worry about stupid things like getting sued by the Record Industry. Every try to legally play a DVD on Linux? My understanding is that it can't be done because no one ever purchased the rights to the Codecs required to decode the DVD. Software is there, but not legally.

This stuff scares the suits to death. They have better things to do than defend themselves from 800 lb gorillas.

Give the suits what they want and Open Source will bounce MS in less than a decade.

Problem is that Open Source doesn't give the suits what they want and never has.

I've been following Open Source for over 8 years now. The story hasn't changed. Lots of claims, lots of whining about how stupid the suits are.

Change the tune and demolish MS. It just might work.

[rlaw68]

You're all homos...

...sapiens, that is :-) ...but where did your thought process go when you read that subject line?

Alright, now we're getting down to it. We all have immediate reactions to words, sights, overt attitudes/beliefs, etc. We're wired for it; it's a survival instinct.

Counterculture anything is suspected by the "suits" because they know that you don't like (to put it mildly) what (you think) they stand for, how (you think) they live their lives, make decisions, try to screw you over, etc.

Here's an example: I'm not exactly a big fan of the folks currently running the country/world. Which will work better: donning a tie-dye serape and singing "hey hey, ho ho [fill in the blank] has got to go" and writting an angry blog or trying to creatively apply my intelligence to learn from how they got their power and position and try to help put others in that same power and position to better affect the changes I want?

Lose the anger at the way corporate America works, buys software, and dresses and you will begin to make progress if you have a superior product and approach.

Keep the anger and the ponytails and you'll remain in a cube somewhere thinking how unfair it all is.

The really important point is that you don't have to cave in on your beliefs or morals, but you DO most certainly have to play the game if you want to win it.

[Jim Hubbard]

Here, here!

Well said.