[wordup] Rockin' on without Microsoft

Thu Aug 21 18:33:37 EDT 2003

Right on.  -- Adam.

From: http://news.com.com/2008-1082_3-5065859.html?tag=prntfr
Via: http://slashdot.org/articles/03/08/21/0515229.shtml

Rockin' on without Microsoft
By David Becker
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 20, 2003, 4:00 AM PT
http://news.com.com/2008-1082-5065859.html

Sterling Ball, a jovial, plain-talking businessman, is CEO of Ernie 
Ball, the world's leading maker of premium guitar strings endorsed by 
generations of artists ranging from the likes of Eric Clapton to the 
dudes from Metallica.

But since jettisoning all of Microsoft products three years ago, Ernie 
Ball has also gained notoriety as a company that dumped most of its 
proprietary software--and still lived to tell the tale.

In 2000, the Business Software Alliance conducted a raid and subsequent 
audit at the San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based company that turned up a few 
dozen unlicensed copies of programs. Ball settled for $65,000, plus 
$35,000 in legal fees. But by then, the BSA, a trade group that helps 
enforce copyrights and licensing provisions for major business software 
makers, had put the company on the evening news and featured it in 
regional ads warning other businesses to monitor their software licenses.

Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT department he wanted 
Microsoft products out of his business within six months. "I said, 'I 
don't care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who 
recently addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't do business with 
someone who treats us poorly."

Ball's IT crew settled on a potpourri of open-source software--Red Hat's 
version of Linux, the OpenOffice office suite, Mozilla's Web 
browser--plus a few proprietary applications that couldn't be duplicated 
by open source. Ball, whose father, Ernie, founded the company, says the 
transition was a breeze, and since then he's been happy to extol the 
virtues of open-source software to anyone who asks. He spoke with CNET 
News.com about his experience.

Q: Can you start by giving us a brief rundown of how you became an 
open-source advocate?

A: I became an open-source guy because we're a privately owned company, 
a family business that's been around for 30 years, making products and 
being a good member of society. We've never been sued, never had any 
problems paying our bills. And one day I got a call that there were 
armed marshals at my door talking about software license compliance...I 
thought I was OK; I buy computers with licensed software. But my lawyer 
told me it could be pretty bad.

The BSA had a program back then called "Nail Your Boss," where they 
encouraged disgruntled employees to report on their company...and that's 
what happened to us. Anyways, they basically shut us down...We were out 
of compliance I figure by about 8 percent (out of 72 desktops).

How did that happen?

We pass our old computers down. The guys in engineering need a new PC, 
so they get one and we pass theirs on to somebody doing clerical work. 
Well, if you don't wipe the hard drive on that PC, that's a violation. 
Even if they can tell a piece of software isn't being used, it's still a 
violation if it's on that hard drive. What I really thought is that you 
ought to treat people the way you want to be treated. I couldn't treat a 
customer the way Microsoft dealt with me...I went from being a 
pro-Microsoft guy to instantly being an anti-Microsoft guy.

Did you want to settle?

Never, never. That's the difference between the way an employee and an 
owner thinks. They attacked my family's name and came into my community 
and made us look bad. There was never an instance of me wanting to give 
in. I would have loved to have fought it. But when (the BSA) went to 
Congress to get their powers, part of what they got is that I 
automatically have to pay their legal fees from day one. That's why 
nobody's ever challenged them--they can't afford it. My attorney said it 
was going to cost our side a quarter million dollars to fight them, and 
since you're paying their side, too, figure at least half a million. 
It's not worth it. You pay the fine and get on with your business. What 
most people do is get terrified and pay their license and continue to 
pay their licenses. And they do that no matter what the license program 
turns into.

What happened after the auditors showed up?

It was just negotiation between lawyers back and forth. And while that 
was going on, that's when I vowed I was never going to use another one 
of their products. But I've got to tell you, I couldn't have built my 
business without Microsoft, so I thank them. Now that I'm not so bitter, 
I'm glad I'm in the position I'm in. They made that possible, and I 
thank them.

So it was the publicity more than the audit itself that got you riled?
Nobody likes to be made an example of, but especially in the name of 
commerce. They were using me to sell software, and I just didn't think 
that was right. Call me first if you think we have a compliance issue. 
Let's do a voluntary audit and see what's there. They went right for the 
gut...I think it was because it was a new (geographical) area for them, 
and we're the No. 1 manufacturer in the county, so why not go after us?

So what did swearing off Microsoft entail?

We looked at all the alternatives. We looked at Apple, but that's owned 
in part by Microsoft. (Editor's note: Microsoft invested $150 million in 
Apple in 1997.) We just looked around. We looked at Sun's Sun Ray 
systems. We looked at a lot of things. And it just came back to Linux, 
and Red Hat in particular, was a good solution.

So what kind of Linux setup do you have?

You know what, I'm not the IT guy. I make the business decisions. All I 
know is we're running Red Hat with Open Office and Mozilla and Evolution 
and the basic stuff.

We were creating the cocktail that people are guzzling down today, but 
we had to find it and put it together on our own. It's so funny--in 
three and half years, we went from being these idiots that were thinking 
emotionally rather than businesslike...to now we're smart and talking to 
tech guys. I know I saved $80,000 right away by going to open source, 
and each time something like (Windows) XP comes along, I save even more 
money because I don't have to buy new equipment to run the software. One 
of the great things is that we're able to run a poor man's thin client 
by using old computers we weren't using before because it couldn't 
handle Windows 2000. They work fine with the software we have now.

How has the transition gone?

It's the funniest thing--we're using it for e-mail client/server, 
spreadsheets and word processing. It's like working in Windows. One of 
the analysts said it costs $1,250 per person to change over to open 
source. It wasn't anywhere near that for us. I'm reluctant to give 
actual numbers. I can give any number I want to support my position, and 
so can the other guy. But I'll tell you, I'm not paying any per-seat 
license. I'm not buying any new computers. When we need something, we 
have white box systems we put together ourselves. It doesn't need to be 
much of a system for most of what we do.

But there's a real argument now about total cost of ownership, once you 
start adding up service, support, etc.

What support? I'm not making calls to Red Hat; I don't need to. I think 
that's propaganda...What about the cost of dealing with a virus? We 
don't have 'em. How about when we do have a problem, you don't have to 
send some guy to a corner of the building to find out what's going 
on--he never leaves his desk, because everything's server-based. There's 
no doubt that what I'm doing is cheaper to operate. The analyst guys can 
say whatever they want.

The other thing is that if you look at productivity. If you put a bunch 
of stuff on people's desktops they don't need to do their job, chances 
are they're going to use it. I don't have that problem. If all you need 
is word processing, that's all you're going to have on your desktop, a 
word processor. It's not going to have Paint or PowerPoint. I tell you 
what, our hits to eBay went down greatly when not everybody had a Web 
browser. For somebody whose job is filling out forms all day, invoicing 
and exporting, why do they need a Web browser? The idea that if you have 
2,000 terminals they all have to have a Web browser, that's crazy. It 
just creates distractions.

Have you heard anything from Microsoft since you started speaking out 
about them?

I got an apology today from a wants-to-be-anonymous Microsoft employee 
who heard me talk. He asked me if anyone ever apologized, because what 
happened to me sounded pretty rough to him, and I told him no. He said, 
"Well, I am. But we're nice guys." I'm sure they are. When a machine 
gets too big, it doesn't know when it's stepping on ants. But every once 
in a while, you step on a red ant.

Ernie Ball is pretty much known as a musician's buddy. How does it feel 
to be a technology guru, as well?

  I think it's great for me to be a technology influence. It shows how 
ridiculous it is that I can get press because I switched to OpenOffice. 
And the reason why is because the myth has been built so big that you 
can't survive without Microsoft, so that somebody who does get by 
without Microsoft is a story.

It's just software. You have to figure out what you need to do within 
your organization and then get the right stuff for that. And we're not a 
backwards organization. We're progressive; we've won communications and 
design awards...The fact that I'm not sending my e-mail through Outlook 
doesn't hinder us. It's just kind of funny. I'm speaking to a 
standing-room-only audience at a major technology show because I use a 
different piece of software--that's hysterical.

You've pretty much gotten by with off-the-shelf software. Was it tough 
to find everything you needed in the open-source world?
Yeah, there are some things that are tough to find, like payroll 
software. We found something, and it works well. But the developers need 
to start writing the real-world applications people need to run a 
business...engineering, art and design tools, that kind of 
stuff...They're all trying to build servers that already exist and do a 
whole bunch of stuff that's already out there...I think there's a lot of 
room to not just create an alternative to Microsoft but really take the 
next step and do something new.

Any thoughts on SCO's claims on Linux?

I don't know the merits of the lawsuit, but I run their Unix and I'm 
taking it off that system. I just don't like the way it's being handled. 
I feel like I'm being threatened again.

They never said anything to me, and if I was smart, I probably wouldn't 
mention it. But I don't like how they're doing it. What they're doing is 
casting a shadow over the whole Linux community. Look, when you've got 
Windows 98 not being supported, NT not being supported, OS/2 not being 
supported--if you're a decision maker in the IT field, you need to be 
able to look at Linux as something that's going to continue to be 
supported. It's a major consideration when you're making those decisions.

What if SCO wins?

There are too many what-ifs. What if they lose? What if IBM buys them? I 
really don't know, and I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But I 
can't believe somebody really wants to claim ownership of Linux...it's 
not going to make me think twice.

You see, I'm not in this just to get free software. No. 1, I don't think 
there's any such thing as free software. I think there's a cost in 
implementing all of it. How much of a cost depends on whom you talk to. 
Microsoft and some analysts will tell you about all the support calls 
and service problems. That's hysterical. Have they worked in my office? 
I can find out how many calls my guys have made to Red Hat, but I'm 
pretty sure the answer is none or close to it...It just doesn't crash as 
much as Windows. And I don't have to buy new computers every time they 
come out with a new release and abandon the old one.

Has Microsoft tried to win you back?

Microsoft is a growing business with $49 billion in the bank. What do 
they care about me? If they cared about me, they wouldn't have 
approached me the way they did in the first place...And I'm glad they 
didn't try to get me back. I thank them for opening my eyes, because I'm 
definitely money ahead now and I'm definitely just as productive, and I 
don't have any problems communicating with my customers. So thank you, 
Microsoft.