RE: On LinuxToday... erm... today :)

["Paul Sims" <nospam [at] lombard.co.uk>]

These arguments would be fine if it were EDS - it's actually part of a 
company called CSL running SCC. Some of our ICL engineers provide 
outsourced services on the engineering side. I understand that CSL also 
outsource some of the admin for local  government.

On Thursday, April 27, 2000 5:05 AM, Stephen J. Turnbull 
[SMTP:turnbull [at] sk.tsukuba.ac.jp] wrote:
> >>>>> "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!
>

"WorldSecure Server <lombard.co.uk>" made the following
 annotations on 04/27/00 09:56:38
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