[CLUE-Talk] "red hat - the new redmond?" comment from mainstream online media

[David Anselmi]

David L. Willson wrote:
> Since this is '-talk', I hope no one minds if I react a little.
> 
> "Can we ~think~ for one cotton-pickin' second?  Would Microsoft be
> Microsoft if all their products were GPL?"

Well, let me take a little different tack.  The "large global media 
company" says they've standardized on Red Hat (note that's for servers). 
   In Windows shops you hear the same--we've standardized on Win2k 
Server.  They can go further--we've standardized on WinXP and OfficeXP.

So in the sense that Red Hat is *the* enterprise Linux, no others will 
be considered, you could say they are another Redmond.  Certainly this 
is a stretch--there are plenty of differences, too.  It is too early to 
tell how Red Hat will balance their commitment to share-holder value 
with their commitment to Open Source and their commitment to their 
customers.

I wonder if large companies really gain so much from standardized, 
centralized management, or if they'd be better off with more distributed 
management.  On the one hand, the claim is that standardization reduces 
costs, improves efficiency, and enhances security.  On the other, it 
forces me to pay $5,000 for a new web server when I could have got it 
out of the junk room for nothing.

One of the things that is interesting (a parallel to the programming 
world) is that standardization happens at the product level, not the 
protocol level (that's implementation vs. interface for you 
programmers).  "We use Word", not "we use 8.5x11 white paper" (paper 
documents).  "We use Word", not "we use html" (electronic documents). 
"We use GroupWise", not "we use LDAP" (address book).

In the process, we force everyone to use standard tools rather than 
allowing them to use tools that suit them (and that interoperate with 
others' tools).  The system becomes brittle (tightly coupled).  It costs 
a lot to take a bunch of veteran Word Perfect users and move them to 
Word.  It will cost a lot when we move from GroupWise to Exchange. 
Well, maybe that's just the nature of the beast.

Thanks for listening, I'd be happy to hear from anyone who has 
experience in the enterprise IT world.

Dave