send this to your IT manager

[steve at cyberianhamster.com (Steve)]

Tim King wrote:

> I'm not sure I want to send this to my IT manager. I want to sell him on
> Linux. This piece is probably more likely to sell him on Windows!


Yeah, I know. (manager to Microsoftie sales rep) "Hey, I'm thinking 
about using Linux for X instead. How much of a discount will you give me 
to not use it? I know you guys really don't want to lose out to Linux. 
Gosh, my whole Y could go Linux...

...Hmmm...Z% off your price? Let me think about it."

 

I'd rather show my manager something that actually makes him want to go 
to Linux...why Linux can make an IT administrator's life faster, better, 
and cheaper with respect to the needs of his area. Those 3 words tend to 
get my manager's ears perked up (at least initially.) He's not going to 
give a rat's ass about why salesmen do what they do (unless it's to beat 
them up on price and deliverables)


> True, The Register's commentary has some nice things to say about Linux.
> And they put a negative spin on MS's agressive marketing. But any IT
> manager worth his salt will take anything The Register reports with a
> grain of salt. 


> And he won't care so much about agressive marketing as
> about performance.


Plus, go for the throat salesmen are standard for anybody trying to sell 
higher-end software solutions/services. MS's memo to their salesmen 
probably isn't any different in spirit from Oracle's, Sun's, etc. for 
example (especially in this crappy IT vendor environment)

 
> What the IT manager wants to know is: What's in it for him?


Pass the plate, brother.


> So when he gets to reading the MS memo itself, he'll discover nothing but
> accolades for MS's solution so-called. MS is "selling the advantages of
> our platform and the new volume licensing program." There's "value,"
> "savings," Microsoft's ".NET vision," and "great products like Windows
> 2000 to start building on that vision today," as well as "business agility
> and shorter time to market over Linux."


ROTFL. This stuff is disgusting yet disturbingly amusing at the same 
time. Government propaganda has nothing on high-end sales propaganda. Is 
the "neutral" 3rd party research firm in there too?

 

Steve