Desktop Relevance

[gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 03/26/2009 02:35 PM, KyleL wrote:
> Hi, I am new here my name is Kyle and after some searching on the web I=

> found this group. I am local to Boston and new to the Linux platform.
>
>  I thought I would respond.=20
>
> I think what your saying here would be wonderful if it was true.  Sadly=
 not
> everyone is fair and honest.  That is why we had the market crash, gree=
d on
> every level of the system created a  problem(specifically the housing
> market).  That is not to say that there are good people out there but y=
ou
> can not expect it.
>
> With regard to the general standing of what the article was about, I th=
ink
> from an IT standpoint Microsoft is the best thing that has happened, it=
's
> basically the only reason I have work I am constantly out fixing MS iss=
ues.=20
> I don't know much about Linux (yet) but as a general IT student and use=
r
> almost everything we do is based on Windows and I think what he said ab=
out
> them owning the market is true and probably won't change. On top of tha=
t
> Linux can seem somewhat of a daunting task to learn, even though it has=

> become more user friendly considering Ubuntu.
>
> Back to what Whitehurst said, even the cloud based system isn't perfect=
=2E=20
> >From a network security standpoint, you could potentially be putting s=
ecure
> data out on the web.  So desktop to desktop production inside a network=
 is
> (IMO) more secure.  Thus MS still holds the title.
>
> Its my opinion that desktops as a whole are not going anywhere and MS w=
ill
> be on top for better or worse.
>
> I am not sure if I hit the right points but this what this article and =
your
> feedback has pointed out to me.
>  =20
Kyle, welcome to the BLU, hope to see you at some of our meetings,=20
installfests, or BBQs.

Just want to comment a bit on businesses. Pure free market economics=20
allows for a reasonable profit. If I am going to write software, I=20
expect it to pay for my home, my food, and my entertainment. I also did=20
not like banking (my first job out of graduate school), but I did like=20
flying helicopters. Investors want to see things like ROIC. I think one=20
thing that has been wrong in American business is not so much the=20
requirement for the bottom line, but more the lack of long-term=20
planning.  the model is somewhat like:
Year 1 new CEO is hired. He expenses everything (because he can blame=20
losses on the previous guy).
Year 2 most of the junk is cleared out, the P&Ls look ok.
Year 3 profits start to reduce, so he decides to capitalize things.
Year 4 more capitalization
Year 5, many of the capitalized items become expenses and profits are=20
reduced. CEO moves on.
Year 6 new CEO is hired. He expenses everything (because he can blame=20
losses on the previous guy).

Basically businesses use 5-year plans. The Europeans tend to have longer =

term plans. (Note that utilities and similar companies need to plan 20,=20
30, 50 years because of their large capital investments).  The basic=20
thing is that a CEO life expectancy at a company is relatively short.=20
This affects planning and many other aspects of companies. Additionally, =

we are always trying to come up with better new products. In the finance =

industry these are things like hedge funds, mortgage backed securities,=20
swaptions...

Getting back to Whitehurst, I tend to agree with Jarod that he made a=20
perfectly reasonable statement, but it is somewhat similar to the Pope=20
unexcommunicating Bishop Williamson (the Holocaust denier). We live in a =

world where there are many religions, Fedora, OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, and=20
GenToo. I was actually taught that EMACS was God's editor. But, I think=20
the topic on the relevance of the desktop (generic, not Windows, not=20
Mac, not Linux) is a relevant topic as the trend today is toward cloud=20
computing, especially in the large corporation where just the upkeep of=20
keeping Windows updated and somewhat out of trouble is costly.

--=20
Jerry Feldman <gaf-mNDKBlG2WHs at public.gmane.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
PGP key id: 537C5846
PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB  CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846