Paul Anderson (paul@geeky1.ebtech.net)
Sun, 17 May 1998 22:06:10 -0400 (EDT)
On Sun, 17 May 1998, Tom Good wrote:
>
> For my UGD colleagues this thread is about a post of `2 comments'
> (made on the Parallel Port Driver list) wherein it was noted that
> 1) Gateway is reissuing an Amiga next fall - with Linux installed.
>
Is this Gateway as in Gateway 2000?
> 2) Hardware vendors don't write linux drivers...
>
They do - when duly pressed.
>
> If you hammer vendors with the above mentioned tools you often get
> results...but the pressure must be sustained and the numbers must be
> great. Loss of market share *and* evidence of potential profit are the
> only motivators.
>
The Bentley MicroStation port to Linux came about by a linux hacker, who
later was hired by Bentley... Sometimes, it turns out quite well. Even
MENTIONING Linux to their drones helps things, it helps prove that Linux
is a force. They get a number of e-mails saying "I can't use your product
on Linux", THEN they talk with their salesdrones and say "Is this Linux
all that commonly used?", and since it's been mentioned to the salesdrone,
they inform the company that Linux is, in fact, worth supporting. I make
a point of mentioning Linux at every business conference I go to(I work
with computers...)
> Then it got killed off by
> the big cheeses. At progress they refuse to port their db to linux even
> tho they have a linux port of their webspeed product.
>
Give it time, and WORK AT IT. Keep the requests going, everytime you see
a person that works for Progress TELL THEM about Linux! With patience and
effort these companies will soon realize that value of the Linux market.
A benefit one might wish to cite is that the Linux community is very good
at supporting the products they use - in fact, in 1997, InfoWorld gave the
Linux community their "Best Tech Support of The Year Award".
> As does perl. And the perl community
> and their support mechanisms blow away PEG
>
I've always had a particular fancy for POD - it successfully encourages
the writing of thorough documentation. And, with the perlxstut manpage,
it's EASY to write extensions for perl!
> What with Corel, Netscape and Caldera urging:
> `Sit Spot sit...' (Except PROGRESS, they would rather go down with
> the ship...)
>
IIRC, last I heard Corel was porting all their stuff to Linux. Corel is a
sinking ship - and the Linux community is their last life-raft. Companies
like Corel, Netscape, Caldera, Novell, etc. All have LOTS to lose if MS
wins, and Linux is the one foe MS can't beat. Perhaps they're viewpoint
will change when MS becomes more of a threat. Hmm, for some reason when I
hear "Postgress", words like "WordPerfect", "Ashton-Tate" and "VisiCalc"
come to mind... TTYL!
--- Paul Anderson - Self-employed Megalomaniac paul@geeky1.ebtech.net "This alone feature valley the penalty it's wieght in the gold." -- Seattle Robotics Soc. Page Translated to Portugese and Back See http://www2.ebtech.net/~panderso/babel2.html for the full text.FREE mailing lists setup - e-mail newlist@geeky1.ebtech.net for info
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Wed 30 Dec 1998 - 10:17:45 EST