Linux raising its head
October 28th, 2004
Linux is now seen as a more viable product in the UK, says BBC. Some government departments have stepped closer to using Linux after a study finds the product very usable.
I don’t use Linux. One of the reasons is that I cannot handle the customisations and running of it, at least I think so. But of course there are people who would argue against this, but for the sake of this entry, let’s keep this as it is :-). I’m currently reading The Cathedral and The Bazaar, written by Eric Raymond. He constantly writes about the productivity of the open source society. When people create something they enjoy doing - they are willing to do it for free. One of the quotes I remember from the book is that “people are the most productive, when they are at play”. I think Google takes advantage of this pretty well (just look at their policy on being able to work on personal projects during office hours).
But secondly, going back to the issue of adapting Linux. The new emerging users of this software, also mentioned in the article, are governmental departments and offices. You don’t need to argue why - if they are able to save money on running a free software, they will most likely do it. This also supports the theories being presented by Geoffrey Moore, in his book Inside the Tornado, which I’m also reading for my thesis.
Moore argues that when a company chooses very small niche markets which are however dominated by economic buyers with purchasing power, and the company does well in those - it will begin to create a tornado around it. The tornado is able to pick it into new atmospheres and market positions. I think Linux (more specifically the companies offering the customisations services, etc.) is beginning to create this tornado around it, very very slowly but surely. The governments are realising this and in a few years will be moving in herds for the software. The ever growing savings and cuts in expenditure being created by the eldering population in Europe will further strengthen their opinions on switching.
Feel free to read on with some related posts:
- Teosto raising prices
- Mass marketing - dead?
- Michael Moore OKs movie sharing
- FogScreen
- Thoughts on blogging with MT
