[PLUG] dumping unix for linux

Paul Heinlein heinlein at madboa.com
Mon Oct 16 17:56:19 UTC 2006


On Mon, 16 Oct 2006, alan wrote:

> On Mon, 16 Oct 2006, Robert Anderson wrote:
> 
> > I have found that what management really cares about is cost. Cost 
> > of migrating, cost of licensing, cost of hardware, and ongoing 
> > cost of ownership. If you can spell things out in dollars and 
> > cents, they will go for it. They probably don't care that penguins 
> > are cute. Although, you are right... penguins are cute.
> 
> I have found that to be false in most cases.  Otherwise why would 
> anyone ever buy a Windows print server CAL?
> 
> What they want is security.  They want to go with what makes them 
> comfortable, no matter how much more it costs them.  If they believe 
> that Windows will give them that "warm and fuzzy experience", then 
> they will go with Windows.  For some shops it is Solaris.  Others it 
> is Oracle.

Sometimes the "warm and fuzzy experience" has to do with indirect (but 
real) financial expenses...

 * avoidance of official IT infrastructure is a financial expense,
   because it means that employees are having to spend time to
   develop their own solutions, and usually not very efficiently.

 * employees who stovepipe their own IT solutions often do so using
   tools that aren't designed with corporate security in mind.
   whether the problem is information leaks or inbound viruses,
   cleanup is a financial expense.

 * spending time answering questions from cranky users or addressing
   problems introduced by software that doesn't work as most
   employees think it should is a real financial cost.

...but sometimes the cost isn't financial...

 * getting berated in management meetings or losing status in an
   organization sometimes involves financial costs (less budget
   next year), but often the cost is psychological.

 * there's also a high psychological price to pay by IT staffers
   who perceive that their work is being dismissed by their
   co-workers; it's harder to work with people in a "bad mood."

-- 
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> www.madboa.com



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