[TriLUG] Here's a short article from Lockergnome's Tech Specialist newsletter

[al johson]

 I thought the group might be interested in this article in a "pro-MS"
newsletter. Just another indication that Linux is definitely on the road to
becoming corporate desktop software in the near future.--Al Johnson
============================


Brewing Storm
http://www.crn.com/sections/News/Top_News.asp?RSID=CRN&ArticleID=42476

At long last, a battle ground is emerging. The SuSE Linux Desktop showed up
on the radar screen at the Enterprise Linux Forum last week, and Microsoft
is the obvious target. The difference here is that the Linux product is
aimed at the corporate desktop, and priced accordingly. A five seat license
with five year maintenance contract will go for $598, a steep discount when
compared to Windows XP on those merits alone, but that doesn't factor in the
time to train IT staff (or hire Linux geeks outright), train users, come up
with a migration strategy, integrate with existing server environment, etc.,
and these are all things that have to be taken into consideration. Still,
with a five year right to upgrades, a very large community available for
guidance, and the ability to hack away at the OS if you find something you
don't like, SuSE is barking up the right tree. They aren't the only ones
doing so, however. Ximian and Red Hat aim to go more "corporate" soon
enough.

I've maintained for years that Linux isn't ready for the mainstream desktop,
despite my own liking of the OS genre, but I have also acknowledged that
it's making great progress. This is a huge step for Linux, and an equally
huge step for Microsoft, regardless of whether they think so. Why?
Competition, my friends. Whether you care to use Linux or not, it's that
ability for Linux to compete that will make Windows better. Microsoft has to
focus on making it easier for companies to choose Windows, easier to
support, and much more broadly compatible with the very products that they
are now hearing in their sleep... Mac OS X and Linux. Mark this day on your
calendar. It opens a new chapter in the operating system world.

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