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Recent reports indicate that governments around the world are
considering the switch away from Windows to Linux. This has Microsoft
worried enough to create a
battle Linux slush fund to convince governments to stick with
Windows.
Apple should be taking advantage of these corporate switchers.
It's no secret that big bucks can be made on government and corporate
contracts. Now that governments seem to be in the mood to move away
from Windows, there's a window of opportunity for Apple.
This window may be smaller than it first appears, though.
What's driving the switch campaign? There are two big things.
One is the need for access to the source code. Microsoft has made
an attempt to meet this need with their "shared source" initiative.
What governments really seem to want, though, is control over the
source and the ability to change things to suit their needs. Shared
source is not the solution for them.
Reasons for this vary. Some governments feel they must customize
software for specific needs. China may think of Microsoft as a
national security problem intentionally leaving backdoors open for
the NSA.
Apple is in the same boat as Microsoft on this one. Apple's code
(Darwin notwithstanding) is closed. You cannot change or customize it
(at least to the degree that some government would like).
Because of Apple's closed nature, it won't be able to ride the new
wave of government switchers.
The second main reason to move away from Microsoft is that
governments would prefer to use more than one vendor. Microsoft has
made a good run of locking in customers, but some bean counters
somewhere are looking at the numbers and realizing that sticking with
just MS may cost more than it's worth in terms of downtime (when
viruses strike), support (when new patches need to be installed), and
maintenance (when computers go down).
The other problem with using a single vendor is that Microsoft has
much more control over the customer and can dictate prices. The very
existence of the slush fund demonstrates how governments can benefit
if competition is introduced into the market.
Apple has a better chance here. It can promote itself as a way of
creating diversity in the government environment. With open standards
being used, Macs and Windows boxes can coexist happily on the same
network. File transfers and exchanges between groups can also be
seamless.
This is still a tough row to hoe for Apple considering Linux is
free and can be installed on any old box the customer has lying
about. However, the very fact that governments are looking elsewhere
for computer vendors means opportunity for Apple.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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