Killer apps/"selling" points of FC and GNU/Linux

[Avi Alkalay]

On 11/15/2004 12:08:08 PM, Kyrre Ness Sjobak wrote:
> >> All of us trying hard to convert friends etc to Linux - what are the
> >> arguments used?
>
> All of those are nice - but are they "killer apps" for Linux? No - it is
> merely supporting functions which make the OS nicer.


All those points you guys put here are real and I like them, specially
M. Peters yum argument.

But it is all useless, from a business perspective, if your users have
to use apps built with proprietary technologies, like VB, Delphi, etc.
And 99% of today´s workplace desktops have to run some business app
made with these frameworks. A desktop is not only a Browser and an
Office Suite. I hope some day it will be, with industry initiatives
like portal, etc.

But personaly, I´m not really sure FC3 (not just Linux) is ready for,
say, my mother to use. And she does only browsing, e-mail and
messenger. She is already using Firefox on Windows though.

The server perspective follows the same rules: If you have a server
app built on top of proprietary technologies (ASP, .NET, Cold Fusion,
etc), I´m sorry Linux, but there is no room for you. Go see the
infrastructure department if there is something for you, and come back
tomorrow to this business section.

The bottom line is: operating systems do not solve business problems
alone. They need apps that implement some enterprise business logic.
So the OS is defined by the higher level application your datacenter
MUST run. Sad but true.

If you have all your business apps built with standards like J2EE,
etc, Linux is ready today for deployment. From the simplest caching
DNS server, to the biggest SAP, ERP, CRM implementation you can
imagine.

The most effective way to make Linux more popular is convincing
DEVELOPERS (the guys that make business and killer apps) to start
developing on Linux.

Regards,
Avi