tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10118571.post-78776588293871821852008-04-14T00:47:00.000-07:002008-04-14T01:02:20.019-07:00The Var Guy, a blog I regularly read, recently posted about discussing Dell's decision to not support the upcoming server version of Ubuntu.<br />You can read the report here <a href="http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/04/10/dell-no-plans-for-ubuntu-linux-servers/">http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/04/10/dell-no-plans-for-ubuntu-linux-servers/</a><br /><br />The reason Dell is hesitating is due to the the law of the ladder. Law #7 of the 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing states that there are rungs on a ladder in the minds of your prospects and there is a brand associated with each rung of the ladder.<br /><br />In the Linux market, the top rung is held by Red Hat<br /><br />The next rungs down on the ladder are a little murkier. The category, following Law #10, the law of division, which states that each category begins to subdivide itself, finds that there are two separate categories...Desktop and Server<br /><br />The story being discussed by the VAR Guy is about Linux on Servers, and here, the vendor on the second rung of the Linux Server market is Novell.<br /><br />It isn't clear who is on the third rung.<br /><br />What Dell is doing is hedging its bets by following the 8th Law of Marketing, the Law of Duality: In the long run each market becomes a two horse race.<br /><br />Dell, looking at the market, realizes that Ubuntu has a very small chance of unseating either Red Hat or Novell in the server market. Thus, Dell makes a wise business decision to continue to back the two leaders and wait to see what happens with Ubuntu.Richard Blisshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06711443052326619281noreply@blogger.com