Thursday, September 23, 2004
Channel Trend: Providers Increasing Linux Support, Again
Business are adopting Linux and the channel is responding by supporting Linux. Although many analysts talk about the vendors driving the channel, it is the customers that drive the channel; it is the channel that drives revenue and profits for the vendor. Microsoft did not make channel millionaires. Nor did Novell, Sun, IBM or HP. The entrepreneurs who built and managed their businesses individually made themselves millions and and aggregately made vendors billions.
This customer and channel-centric perspective is one of the key points I always stress when I teach Executive Conversation's Executive Focused Sales--Channel. The channel will do just fine without you or your products. Will you do as well without the channel?
Microsoft's delay on Longhorn is no big deal to the health of the channel. But it is opening up the channel to Linux vendors, especially Novell. This loss of support in the channel will be very expensive for Microsoft to fix. Every provider/developer that migrates to Linux will have to be recruited back at great expense and effort straining budgets and reducing ROI.
Scott Karren, The Channel Pro
1 comments
Business are adopting Linux and the channel is responding by supporting Linux. Although many analysts talk about the vendors driving the channel, it is the customers that drive the channel; it is the channel that drives revenue and profits for the vendor. Microsoft did not make channel millionaires. Nor did Novell, Sun, IBM or HP. The entrepreneurs who built and managed their businesses individually made themselves millions and and aggregately made vendors billions.
This customer and channel-centric perspective is one of the key points I always stress when I teach Executive Conversation's Executive Focused Sales--Channel. The channel will do just fine without you or your products. Will you do as well without the channel?
Microsoft's delay on Longhorn is no big deal to the health of the channel. But it is opening up the channel to Linux vendors, especially Novell. This loss of support in the channel will be very expensive for Microsoft to fix. Every provider/developer that migrates to Linux will have to be recruited back at great expense and effort straining budgets and reducing ROI.
Scott Karren, The Channel Pro
1 comments
Comments:
Coming from a different perspective, Dave Winer talks about the same thingin a post about Apple and its developer community.
In the end, it's always the same - the customer has the power.
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In the end, it's always the same - the customer has the power.
