[plug] Fwd: a tale of two counties

[Leon Brooks]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Date: 03 May 2002 14:59:44 -0400
From: Jeremy Hogan

[chop]

It's funny, I was doing some consulting for two different County IT
depts., both facing an "Upgrade now, or pay big later" XP scare.
Paying later not only meant a higher fee, but an audit they knew
they would fail.

MS responded to their pushback by lengthening the deadline from
April until August. One county saw it as an opportunity to get their
licensing straightened out (ie comply with the deal) the other said,
"I don't care, they'll get me sooner or later, I'm moving to Linux".

I approached the semi-compliant county and said, "Use this time to
really think about what your needs are. Really look at where Linux
can fit." In the long run, we will still hopefully win there, but it
shows that MS has many angles to this new push of their's.

It would seem that MS is greasing the squeaky wheels, and hoping the
lion's share just comply. They start by extending the deadline, I'm
sure pricing breaks follow, etc.

--jeremy

[chop]