On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, Joel T Schneider wrote:

> Even if your own company is "Microsoft free", it's likely that at least
> some of your suppliers and customers will expect you to interact with them
> by sending MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) files back and forth.
>
> It's relatively easy to tell a supplier that you won't accept MS Word
> documents, but it's often not possible (or worthwhile) to impose this
> constraint on a paying customer.

This is a valid point, but not one without solution.  People are always
telling their customers that there are limitations or hoops to jump
through.  The trick is to tell them *nicely* and don't tell them what they
can't do, but tell them how they *can* get what they want.

What comes to my mind is to make the company party-line (boilerplate
e-mail reply, whatever) something like the following:

"The quality our customers have come to expect from our {goods | services}
requires that we use exceptional software to run our business.

Accordingly, it is inconvenient for us to run {application}.  Please
export as {ASCII text | RTF | something standard} the next time, or we'd
be happy to share our technology with you."

The only reason they use Windows is because "everybody else
does."  Businesses are fickle; as soon as they hear that something else is
necessary to compete, that's what they start looking at.  If the big
customer / supplier uses something, the little suppliers / customers get
forced to follow.  But it also works the other way; if enough little
customers / suppliers use something, the big suppliers / customers will
become compliant.

I say, put your foot down, diplomatically.  Someone's got to go first.
 
> For this to happen, someone really high up in the company would need
> to "buy in" to Linux and "go to bat" for it.

Or for them to find that they have to do it to make sales that they really
want to make.  If it's perceived as one or two customers without much
business, your scenario is required.  But if they start hearing, "please,
would you use Linux already?" then they'll change to stay with the
crowd.  Even if the crowd isn't as big as they *think* it is! ;)

> As the older generation passes on, it may take a good chunk of
> Microsoft's market with it.

Boy, that's an unfortunate turn of phrase!  If Microsoft gets wind of that
idea, they'll start selling life insurance that names themselves as the
customers' beneficiary.

-- 
"To misattribute a quote is unforgivable." --Anonymous