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Re: On LinuxToday... erm... today :)
>>>>> "Will" == Will Newton <will [at] misconception.org.uk> writes:
Will> "Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> tapped
Will> some keys and produced:
>> But I don't expect EDS's _technical_ competitive advantage to
>> go away soon.
Will> According to Dispatches (I think) their edge comes from more
Will> than a few sly backhanders to civil servants and the like.
You know, AFAIK the U.S. I.R.S. still permits companies to deduct
outright bribes from taxable income as a "necessary and usual business
expense" in some places (not the U.K., IIRC ;).
Point being, a good businessman (and Perot is nothing if not a good
businessman) covers all the contingencies; paying off bureaucrats
doesn't prove anything about quality of product.
Show me the alternative that does a better job (including post-install
support etc, etc, not just the technical system specs) and I'll
believe that it's the backhanders that matter most.
Again, don't get me wrong: I believe, _especially_ at the Town Hall
level, that Linux provides a reliable robust high performance/cost
scalable technical solution.[1] But where are the well-mannered free
software businessmen to provide handholding to all the confused
bureaucrats? I assure you, no customer in their right mind would buy
anything from RMS! Attitude will get us nowhere.
Footnotes:
[1] And that's a mouthful!
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Institute of Policy and Planning Sciences Tel/fax: +81 (298) 53-5091
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