Microsoft's OEM strategy strikes again
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| helios Nov 21, 2005 3:42 AM EDT |
I had a chance to speak to the Branch Manager of my bank here in Austin concerning their server and desktop use. Again, it comes as no surprise that they choose Windows, but the reasons she gave surprised me. BOA writes their own software. The fact that almost every computer in the world runs Windows was the primary reason given, along with scalability and the "comfort factor". Their belief is that while handling a customer's money, the bank employee should not be distracted or confused by the software. The surprising part came when she told me that BOA considered Linux insecure. They feel that the source code for their software should not be open to anyone to tinker with and that control was a big deal to them. That's both a shame and a sham... helios |
| tadelste Nov 21, 2005 5:35 AM EDT |
Helios: Your bank's branch manager was speculating. BoA uses Linux internally. They don't think it's immature. They champion it. If you have a chance to look at the computer, it's running 100% in emulation mode and the apps are text based mainframe and 5250 emulators. No Windows native apps run at the bank. |
| r_a_trip Nov 21, 2005 8:33 AM EDT |
If BOA is running GNU/Linux, why are they reluctant to admit it? Does that make any sense? Or are they trying to skirt the debate over the merits of using GNU/Linux? Just say you use Windows and show something resembling Windows on the workstation, while in reality it is 90% GNU/Linux? Is this what MS's "Get the FUD" campaign does? Is it a way of saying to the uneasy customer, "Don't worry, we don't have that "insecure" GNU/Linux."? Smoke and mirrors to avoid being labeled as a rogue company that defies MS's "Get the FUD" dogma's? Very peculiar... |
| dinotrac Nov 21, 2005 9:10 AM EDT |
Or...Is this just a case where the guys out at the branches are a step removed from the goings on in the glass house? It's not at all strange or uncommon to have Winodows be the "face" for mainframe or *ix software. |
| tuxchick Nov 21, 2005 9:14 AM EDT |
Don't be surprised when PHBs are clueless about their computing infrastructure. This guy sounds about like the folks who don't understand than an email program and a web browser are two different things. |
| jimf Nov 21, 2005 9:54 AM EDT |
Exactly the reason why they are using Windows as their front end. Bank tellers aren't necessarily the brightest lamps in the structure, and, Windows is most times the interface that they are familiar with. I would guess that they've decided to leave the security to the people who know what security is, and, to reduce training time for the rest of the personnel. |
| hkwint Nov 21, 2005 10:23 AM EDT |
Quoting:If BOA is running GNU/Linux, why are they reluctant to admit it? From a previous (LXer?) story, I remember MS (sometimes) starts contacting companies who are using Linux by phone, and then asking questions and making offerings / adds. Companies don't want to waste time on this, so sometimes they just lie and say they use Win. They're also afraid the public doesn't trust free software, I think, like the Austin Bank manager. Quoting:Windows is most times the interface that they are familiar with.Exactly, which is the reason banks keep asking for people familiar with it. But times are changing. A while ago, some cash dispensers in my country were cracked, and it was no surprise, this machines run Windows (!). Customers like me pay for the screwup of the Bank-IT department. Retraining personnel might be a cheaper way. Anyway, the bank IT department told, their IT-personnal felt, maintaining Win-cash dispensers was more easy. You'll understand, this personnel just lacks UNIX experience, if they even have any. A personal experience: My sister, non tech-savvy and working at an assurance office, asked why her company uses DOS. She was surprised when I told her, this probably was no DOS, but almost the same Linux-thing (unix) her brother spends his free time on. I think she learned most of it within a month, and the biggest lesson was probably, leave the mouse more at rest. |
| tadelste Nov 21, 2005 10:23 AM EDT |
Nothing here............. |
| tuxchick Nov 21, 2005 10:27 AM EDT |
"Their belief is that while handling a customer's money, the bank employee should not be distracted or confused by the software." What a bunch of horseshit. That's what training is for, hello. Good job, insulting their employees by implying they are too stupid to learn a different computer program. Maybe branch managers faint at the sight of a different computer screen, but real people do just fine learning new things. |
| jimf Nov 21, 2005 10:57 AM EDT |
Well sure Tuxchick, you are entirely correct. But remember that the guys running banks and the banking industry are the ultimate arrogant calcified SOB's, otherwise they wouldn't be allowed in banking. They are paid to enforce the status quo, and, MS currently fits that role perfectly. And you expect them to support rad ideas like FOSS and training? :) |
| tuxchick Nov 21, 2005 11:02 AM EDT |
And security. Anyone remember the early days of ATMs, and how they were trivially easy to hack? I remember tales of teenagers walking away with all the money, and not getting caught. |
| number6x Nov 21, 2005 11:38 AM EDT |
From my experience as a contractor in IT departments Banking and Financial companies are pretty big users of Linux. It's the Insurance industry that is just learning. The Banks all want three things. Dependability, speed, and cost savings. MS has never really been in the ballgame (except maybe in the cost department, comparing the cost of MS-DOS and Lotus 123, or even Windows and Excel to the cost of developing a green screen CICS app and a new batch generated report in COBOL on the mainframe). The last bank I worked at used both mainframes and Solaris for the last decade. Windows was on the business desktop, but it ran MS Office and acted as a dumb terminal for Unix and the mainframe. About four years ago they switched to Linux for unit and cycle testing (developement and user review testing) on the Unix side. Just within the last year they started to deploy Linux for production apps. I don't believe any of the clients I've worked for in the last decade have ever had a mission critical application running on a Microsoft platform. They have all settled on Windows for the business user desktops, but it is pretty much just used for non-critical 'fluff' in the server room. On another note, a friend of mine just started a new contract as a J2ee architect at a medium sized trading firm in Chicago. He was greeted by KDE on SuSE 9.3 as his workstation desktop on his starting day. He was a happy camper. I've just started back at a big Insurance firm. They are just learning how to spell 'Java' and have deployed just a few intranet hosted apps. Baby steps |
| tadelste Nov 21, 2005 11:52 AM EDT |
As you can tell, I thought the story lacked substance. OK. number6x: Linux is widely used in insurance companies depending on the type of insurance. Oracle runs most of the petabyte databases for medicare, blue cross/blue shield and their outsourcers inluding EDS. Also, some pretty nice claims packages exist out their, for example, compuclaim. Oh well, preaching to the choir. |
| number6x Nov 21, 2005 12:14 PM EDT |
Tom, I'm at an insurer who had peoplesoft re-write their code to support DB2 on the mainframe as the back end, instead of Oracle. They were the first PeopleSoft site to do it. That was when Peoplesoft was still in Microfocus COBOL. People soft was eager to in order to expand their potential customer base. It was a very big headache. It was the PeopleSoft switch to Java that got Java's foot in the door at that client. (BTW: The Blues are multiple independent "mutual" companiesthey don't all do things the same way, but they do share some things. The claims for you Texans are processed on Z/OS machines in Waukegan Illinois!) |
| AnonymousCoward Nov 21, 2005 2:05 PM EDT |
tuxchick: oh, so polite! (-: But... exactly true. And who needs training. Use XPde and a suitable KDM theme, and 95% of said employees would not even notice the change. IRL, if you simply used KDE with the Plastik theme and suitable clickability settings, you wouldn't make the 95% a noticeably smaller figure. |
| tadelste Nov 21, 2005 2:25 PM EDT |
number6x: That's very cool. I do understand about the blues as one of the companies for whom I worked sent a team of developers up there to upgrade the database. I also had an involvment in the exchange replacement at an insurer in North Dakota that processed claims for like 9 states. It's good that we xan talk this way ;) |
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