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To: KwasiOwusu
Try telling Red Hat and Novell that Linux is free.

No need, they already know it.

They don't sell Linux, they sell support packages.

Fortune 1000 companies and even small business, don't build their own PC's and download Linux on to it.

The company CEOs and CIOs don't. But they usually have a department that does just that. It's the same department that buys Dell's, strips off the install Windows and installs the company's own build.

They buy servers pre-instaled with commercial software and backed by service agreements. Sometimes. And sometimes not.

I know at the Fortune 500 company where I spend most of my time, we order servers from Dell, strip off the Windows and install what we need.

Sometimes that's Windows. Sometimes it's RedHat or SuSE. Or it can be Debian Linux, Slackware Linux, FreeBSD or OpenBSD.

I've even watched them install Gentoo Linux and let it compile for a day and a half.

Most big companies have an IT department that does what's needed.

And few of the copies of Linux that we use in our department were paid for. We just downloaded and installed.

It's the same in most large companies. If they have an IT department they get contracts to cover the hardware. They support so many different kinds of software in-house already that another Unix doesn't really matter.

Smaller companies that don't have an IT department are closer to what you are describing. They buy RedHat or SuSE for the support.

265 posted on 02/17/2005 6:06:56 PM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
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To: Knitebane
"They don't sell Linux, they sell support packages"

Yes they do..
You can use any term you want, its still selling Linux.
268 posted on 02/17/2005 6:17:06 PM PST by KwasiOwusu
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To: Knitebane
"The company CEOs and CIOs don't. But they usually have a department that does just that. It's the same department that buys Dell's, strips off the install Windows and installs the company's own build. "

No one has even mentioned a whole CEO going to buy a computer here.
So why drone on about it?
Bottom line, Fortune 1000 or even small businesses don't go and buy parts, so they can assemble and build their servers themselves.
That is not their business.
They are not PC makers.
Thy leave that to the Dell's and HP's t do it for them.
And they get the OS pre-installed at the factory.
Dell can even pre-configure servers to your specifications for you if you want.
What is the problem here?
270 posted on 02/17/2005 6:22:20 PM PST by KwasiOwusu
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