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Re: [school-discuss] The end of Red Hat support / Szulik says buyWindows



Tom Adelstein wrote:

Chris Schwan wrote:

And in related news, Redhat has this to say about Windows:


Matthew Szulik, chief executive of Linux vendor Red Hat, said on Monday that although Linux is capable of exceeding expectations for corporate users, home users should stick with Windows: "I would say that for the consumer market place, Windows probably continues to be the right product line," he said. "I would argue that from the device-driver standpoint and perhaps some of the other traditional functionality, for that classic consumer purchaser, it is my view that (Linux) technology needs to mature a little bit more."


I've had about enough bad news about Linux today :(


It looks like the CEO of RedHat did say it. One would think some shareholders will ask for his business plan. Also, it sounds like a justification rather than good business or marketing intelligence work. This is the CEO of a public company and his main competitor just announced their sell to Novell for 1/4 billion dollars. The competitor sells a professional desktop as does Novell. IBM said they would buy Novell preferred shares. Who has the better track record here?

Here's a url discussing Matthew's statement:


http://www.silicon.com/software/os/0,39024651,39116741,00.htm

It's really too bad Szulick stated that opinion, many distros are just fine for many home users. There obviously is no cookie cutter answer to all home users needs, but to talk linux in general out of that market while supporing one of the communities most dangerous competitors seems stupid. Perhaps he has some strategy he's trying to use here?

Windows is a terrible home user experience in many cases. I have dealt with a few folks trying to download windows updates via modems. Less savy Windows broadband users get killed with worms, requiring a rebuild of their poorly backed up computers.

- cameron