Re: Cut him a break

From: Tony Lawrence (pcunix_at_gmail.com)
Date: 07/26/04 

Date: 26 Jul 2004 04:48:54 -0700

Joe Dunning wrote:
> On 2004-07-26, Blitz Kreig <bk@linux.site> wrote:
> > I think I know why Toni claims no poisition in the case. He can't
afford
> > to have one. I can't blame him, his supplier yes, but him no.
>
> But Tony has another option. Don't post on the subject.

I don't. I post regarding my hopes, my fears, and my opinions on the
larger issues surrounding this. It's only because morons like you keep
insisting that I must agree that SCO has no chance of winning that this
keeps coming up.

>
> > Toni's not to blame. The customers aren't to blame. They are
SCrewed Over
> > if they try to migrate, cause Darl & crew will sue them. Kinda
easier to
> > let the machine slowly die instead of replacing it and being sued.
>
> Ah, but that is the point of many of my posts: customers who put in
new
> installations of SCO systems are risking the loss of their vendor,
they
> are more likely to be sued and are indirectly funding attacks on
Linux.

I couldn't even tell you when I last did a new SCO install. Upgrades,
yes.
But new? Would have to be several years now.

>
> Now I do understand that business priorities sometime make
installation
> of such systems the only decision, but when you get people posting
> here that they would never recommend Linux to a customer (and Tony is

> NOT one of these), one wonders how impartial is the advice some
posters
> give their customers.
>
> >
> >
> > I am certain when it is all over, then the customers will move. But
first
> > SCO will have to go.
>
> Why wait? Customers who have to migrate in a hurry because their
vendor
> of choice has disappeared are not in good shape. Better to plan the
> migration today and do it in an orderly fashion.

I agree that planning is important, and have said so at
http://aplawrence.com/OSR5/selfdefense.html "Self Defense for SCO
users" and http://aplawrence.com/Blog/B831.html "Time to dump SCO?".
But as those articles note, it's not always easy to move, and can be
very expensive. Faced with the cost of new software, business
disruption, and retraining, many businesses decide that "wait and see"
is more prudent.

There is also the matter that this is THEIR decision to make. As I
said at http://aplawrence.com/Opinion/potluck.html :

"So: it's the customers that are important to me. It may or may not be
true that in the long run their best interests lie with Open Source,
but since that is a matter of opinion, it is up to them to decide that.
Their decisions will be both at the individual level (shall I keep
using SCO because they are suing IBM and threatening Open Source?) and
at the political level (do I care about the state of patents, DMCA,
etc.?).

It's not up to me to try to force my political opinions on them by
refusing to service or sell to them. That's THEIR choice, and I might
add it is also their choice whether or not they care to educate
themselves on these issues at all. In fact, most don't: they have their
own problems and concerns, and these higher level political/moral
arguments aren't of much interest to them. I don't like that: I think
that disinterest is what lets big business get away with all that it is
getting away with, but the same is true of many political and moral
issues: most folks don't care until their ox gets gored.

But it is their business, not mine. My business is to provide what they
want. That's where my survival comes from in a capitalist society. " 

--
Tony Lawrence
http://aplawrence.com/Lawsuit/

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