Open Source Goes Corporate (InformationWeek) [LWN.net]

InformationWeek looks at Linux deployments in several large companies. "From ABN Amro Bank NV in the financial industry to Yahoo Inc. on the Web, billion-dollar companies are expanding their embrace of the Linux operating system and other open-source components for a wide range of purposes. The Linux penguin has hit the big time. If you missed the announcement of this industry-changing development, that's because it never went out. The deployment of open-source software is happening a project at a time, and many of them are never publicly discussed. So InformationWeek set out to find out just how large corporations are using the stuff, conducting interviews with 10 big companies that are beyond the dabbling stage."

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Open Source Goes Corporate (InformationWeek)

Posted Sep 26, 2005 17:38 UTC (Mon) by Zenith (guest, #24899) [Link] (1 responses)

Considering the angle of the article, that is, that Linux is making a breakthrough with big business', it's strange that all the graphs showing the quarterly changes in expected use of Linux all show a decline?

Should this be understood as a "we're not considering it any more, we've already taken the plunge", or as a genuine declining interest in Linux?

Open Source Goes Corporate (InformationWeek)

Posted Sep 26, 2005 19:16 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (guest, #15091) [Link]

Who knows. I think it is a very poor article: it makes strange identification of Linux with open source, is full of contradictions and is clueless on various levels.

Compare this:

Licensing is one of the biggest challenges for open-source users, Yahoo's Jeremy Zawodny says.

with this:

Yahoo has designated an employee to manage open-source licensing terms and legal issues.

See, real challenge: Yahoo has designated an employee (perhaps a paralegal, maybe even full-time) to manage licenses. Probably a misquote. On the other hand, see what this idiot has to say:

"You don't have to buy industrial-strength software to support all areas of the business," says Nick Gray, UPS's director for architectural services. "You can use an open-source application [...]"

or this one:

"You're always weighing the value of having a company like Microsoft behind you or relying on an open-source community you have no control over," says Larry Kinder, CIO of travel conglomerate Cendant Corp.

... and then goes on to say how he saved $100M in 4 years. Well, Larry, why not spend half that money on paid support? I guess $12M a year pays a lot of geek time.

It is not unusual to have clueless reporting in general media; but this magazine claims to represent "business innovation powered by technology". I pity the CIO that believes such nonsense.