begin oe_protect.scr
Bob Hauck <postmaster@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:49:29 +0000 (UTC),
> thad01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <thad01@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> In just about everyplace but the desktop, nobody even questions the
>> decision to go Linux anymore.
>
> That is certainly true in the embedded space. Two years ago you would
> get questions from customers along the lines of "why did you choose that
> free stuff", now they ask which distribution you're using.
>
> The change in attitude seems to have come on quite suddenly.
>
It's one of those people-networking things - it's the "tipping point"
phenomenon, as marketing people see it; it occurs long before you
get dominant market share, of course, but it's a key point when you're
/on your way/ to it. It's the point at which you have enough of the
"mind-share" that, as you say above, people ask "what" instead of
"why". It's the point at which, for most people, the answer to the
"why" question is now self-evident (it's not, of course, it's merely
something they've learnt about), so the next step is "what" or "which
one"; this can be broadly translated into "when I do the same thing,
which probably won't be long, can I learn from your experience".
It's about risk management the "real-people" way. You can send people on
all manner of courses to learn about new technologies, or new management
techniques, or how to manage risk in projects and programmes, /but/,
none of it really works very well, if at all. What /does/ work is the
tipping-point phenomenon; when there is a sufficient network of people
that everyone knows /someone/ who knows about new thing X (in this case,
that would be FLOSS).
Of course, as you get to tipping point, the opposing marketing people
(trolls here) realise what's happened, so they have to change their
approach; now it's no longer "nobody's heard of it", and it'll become
"nobody uses it". Suddenly, market share will be the most important
thing ever on the planet; unfortunately, in the FLOSS world, as there's
really no realiable way of measuring market share, this does leave the
fudwranglers something of a conundrum to resolve. Clearly, the
tipping-point network is in place, so they can't stop that; equally, as
it's in place, FLOSS usage will inevitably and unstoppably rise in
usage, and expertise will rise with it. Worse, their more basic kinds
of fud are also rendered useless, as people find that in fact, it works
well, it's realiable, it doesn't crash, there're no viruses, it's fast
and responsive and easy to use.
I think with all social networks, there often /appears/ to be a sudden
change, but it's really wrought by a long, slow osmosis-like action as
information moves. Once these networks are in place, they're unlikely
to be shifted by anything other than a more compelling network; this
can take years to establish. You only need to consider just how many
years FLOSS has been growing its networks to realise just how big a
proposition it would be to try to demolish these networks.
Unlike some areas, such as tobacco smoke effects or global warming,
where the science is too complex for 'normal' people to understand,
there's no easy way of poisoning the FLOSS networks; they're based on
concepts of trust-based sharing of knowledge and information. Thus,
huge paid-for campaigns like those designed to confuse normal people
about global warming and tobacco will not work for FLOSS.
It's been said by many luminaries over the years, but the best way to
spread linux is to tell your friends and colleagues, show them what they
could do, but tell them the truth, don't oversell it. Most people are,
quite rightly, suspicious of "too good to be true" stories (the bane of
advertising, too). By telling your friends, colleagues, family,
neighbours and acquaintances, you add to the network, you help to create
the enormous web of people who know someone who uses linux. And, as the
view goes, if so many people are using it, then it /must/ be good.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
Schshschshchsch.
-- The Gorn, "Arena", stardate 3046.2
|
|
