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Microsoft cannot withstand Linux pyramid: philosopher Girardet |
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by Stan Beer
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Thursday, 13 April 2006 |
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Page 1 of 2  Andreas Girardet
Microsoft cannot withstand Linux pyramid: philosopher Girardet
Also see
Will Google and Linux make Microsoft yesterday's company
Twelve years ago, Andreas Girardet, a Masters graduate in philosophy and logic from Berlin University caught the twin internet and Linux bugs. Today Girardet, whose official title at Suse Linux vendor Novell is Linux Evangelist, says logic dictates that Microsoft will not be able to withstand the onslaught of Linux.
Girardet, who once founded a Linux distribution called Yoper, says the
buzz around Linux in the enterprises he visits with Novell sales teams
is unmistakeable. His role is to explain the ins and outs of Linux to
senior IT executives and he says that acceptance and knowledge of Linux
has grown in quantum leaps in the past two years.
“In the last two years I have seen it go from, ‘well let’s look at what
Linux is’ to ‘OK let’s do it’. Now everyone knows about it. I have not
been to a single sales talk recently, where we have had no success. We
literally can’t keep up with the demand,” says Girardet.
According to Girardet, even the current dominance of Microsoft on the
desktop does not stand a chance against the sheer size and volume of
development taking place under the Linux banner.
“Linux is like building pyramids as opposed to the normal way of
development which is like building a skyscraper,” he says. “In a
pyramidal effort you have many individual people dragging stones to the
building and it might take longer to build but the pyramid lasts
longer. In Suse, there are about 15,000 to 20,000 developers working on
the project and internally at Novell we have about 1,000 developers
devoted just to Suse.
“In addition, there are millions of people devoted to the ongoing
development of Linux. Microsoft can’t match millions of people building
a pyramid. They don’t stand a chance. The code that Suse is based on is
a community effort of millions - not just 20,000 Suse developers.
“We’ve caught up now with Linux on the desktop with Suse Linux
Enterprise Desktop (SLED). It will not be long before we move ahead
with the innovation driving the open development environment. This
innovation effort is unparalleled. It is the effort of science because
Linux really grew out of the internet idea, it feeds off it and also
helped the internet to grow. The whole innovation drive which the
internet allowed us to do in society is the same drive behind Linux.
That’s why I’m logically convinced that it’s just a matter of time for
Microsoft and it stands no chance.”>>Page 2
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