“FOSE this year almost could have been called “Windows in
Government.” There was a smallish (and very popular) Apple display
area, but otherwise it was Windows everywhere, from front to back,
from top to bottom.”
“But you can’t fault the big Linux and Unix players for their
absence from this show. I spent a fair amount of time stirring
around, watching and listening to the people (mostly government
employees, of course) in attendance, and most of them were not
technical folks. They were managers and office people for the most
part, looking for things like virus protection and easier ways for
their people to do things, not for technological advances….”
“One Unisys employee (name withheld by request) told me,
point-blank, “The people who come to this show aren’t the CIOs and
IT heads who have purchasing authority. This is a low-level crowd,
hardly worth meeting. That’s why IBM and Sun and the other major
players stayed away, and why you don’t see any Linux or Unix here.
Those people are too smart to waste their time with this. There’s
lots of interest in Linux in government, it’s just not visible at
FOSE.”