25% seems like a lot

Story: Ballmer: Microsoft Losing More Than Winning Against LinuxTotal Replies: 5
Author Content
tuxchick

Oct 20, 2005
6:20 PM EDT
"Microsoft only wins 25% of the Unix application migration deals it competes for."

That sounds like a lot to me. They're talking about migrating to a completely different, very expensive platform. Not only is the new software expensive, but migrating data to such a dissimilar platform is a money pit and time sinkhole, and you need a lot more hardware to do a lot less, and it requires constant babysitting. Presumably existing staff are Unix-experienced, so making the jump to Linux is not a big deal; I don't see a good reason to migrate from Unix to Windows at all.
dinotrac

Oct 20, 2005
7:17 PM EDT
>I don't see a good reason to migrate from Unix to Windows at all.

Well, no, but if the Big Cheese is enamored, you will do things that make little or no sense at all.

I am utterly convinced that the former Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, derived most, if not all, of its revenue on that basis. I am not surprised that Microsoft would derive some.
phsolide

Oct 21, 2005
4:08 AM EDT
I agree with dinotrac about Accenture/A.C. Although an occasional A.C. group/individual did good work, a high probability exists that they will try to cozy up to management one level up and take over an entire "regular employee" group or small department.

We should not underestimate the effect of "agents" (in economics terms, not spycraft terms) on what happens inside large corporations. Most employees of large corporations are locked in for various reasons, and can't really argue against transitions from Unix to Microsoft anyway.
number6x

Oct 21, 2005
5:44 AM EDT
As a contractor for a small firm, and working on my own, Andersen/Accenture have provided for my employment for many years.

I've never worked for them, but I seem to get hired by a lot of places that have just gotten rid of them. After Accenture is gone you can count on a good 12 to 18 months of contract work getting the systems they designed to actually work with some semblance of efficiancy.

The path of destruction they leave takes a lot to clean up. It usually means I am entering an environment that is now hostile to consultants, but I do my best to change that.
Abe

Oct 21, 2005
5:55 AM EDT
There are various reasons why a Unix shop would go MS, here are some of them

- They are no longer purely Unix shops, MS infiltrated to the desktop and in areas where Windows and its apps made sense. So the addiction already started.

- There are more IT managers in the work force; they grew up with Windows in schools . Linux wasn't a consideration at the time and MS had the whole arena for themselves with no real competition.

- Marketing has a lot to do with it, as we all know. MS knew how to win IT managers over and convince them that MS is the New Technology (NT) trend

- Cost of hardware. MS made Windows and Intel hardware, two separate items to look as one. Intel hardware was much lower cost and its up front cost was much easier to swallow and approve.

- Lack of adjustment on the Unix vendors was a major contributor to MS sucess. Unix vendors were making huge margins on big items, they were caught with their pants down screwing the consumer.

- MS pretty much created a huge business for many vendors and service providers. They didn't mind screwing the consumer either as long as they are getting away with it.

- MS had the power to eliminate any competitor company. They bought them, copied them, or eliminated their market by offering the same as free.

- ...

Linux changed the whole ecosystem and all of that is gone. MS tried all sorts of ways to get rid of Linux or stop its progress but all ended up in falure. To keep their dominance, they want to offer Linux (They call it Unix, no surprise) for who ever demands it or wants it. The same happened to Digital when they fought Unix and ended up offering it. It was pretty good version, but it was too late and didn't help.
tadelste

Oct 21, 2005
6:50 AM EDT
Something that might explain Accenture's role in convincing companies to go with the "total Microsoft Technology License" - Ballmer sits on their Board of Directors.

In the past, I bought up SGI workstations from engineering firms that switched to Dell/Microsoft for CAD/CAM work. I got those SGI systems for a massive discount.

At the time I imagined such changes happened often.

Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]

Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!