WideOpenNews: Selling Bottled Linux

“Selling Linux is a lot like selling bottled water, SGI’s
product group senior veep John “Beau” Vrolyk told LinuxWorld
attendees last week. Tap water is free — or at the very least,
low cost — yet the bottled water industry enjoys a booming
business. New York City tap water doesn’t taste appreciably
different from bottled water, but people keep buying Evian. Vendors
selling the Linux operating system will operate under the same
principles: customers will choose products based on brand, and
above all, trust….”

“The affable Vrolyk did make the novel point, however, that the
free-spirited nature of Linux programmers could pose a problem down
the line. The biggest challenge Linux companies will face is
attrition. A lot of the gatekeepers in the Linux community stand to
make a lot of money after they vest. “It’ll be hard to get these
guys to go to work after they have nine digits in their checking
accounts,” Vrolyk said, only half-jokingly. There’s no doubt that
developers will go on programming for the love of it, but company
loyalty isn’t something anyone should count on.”

Complete
Story