Our company is undergoing a “server consolidation project” aka “Our CIO thinks we ought to have another mainframe”. Yesterday we took a bus load of folks from the IS team over to be wooed by IBM, their snazzy conference center, and the free schwag.
They lead off bragging about how many patents IBM submits and segue into how Linux is the future of absolutely everything and it can do magic. Choice quote “Linux is the only OS that can run on devices that haven’t even been invented yet.” At this point I had to challenge at least some of the major distortions emanating from the sales force. I made several challenges to the “data points” being presented. The best part was they seemed to get the message and follow-on presenters were much less likely to spin their products in such a manner.
It was a lot like going to the car dealership to buy a VW Golf. The dealership happens to sell Mercedes also and the salesmen spends the day walking you through the Maybach’s every luxury and feature, presenting it as an alternative to the Golf without mentioning the price differential.