KEY POINTS:
For anyone labouring under the misapprehension that business technology marketing is boring, a visit to the YouTube link below will prove eye-opening.
There you will find an animated video from computer maker Dell featuring medieval dragon slaying, head-lopping violence and spirited chorus singing.
Oh, and the message behind
it all is that Dell and its business partners are leading the charge towards customer-friendly global technology standards.
CNet journalist Tom Krazit insightfully described the production as a cross between Monty Python, South Park and a white paper on Unix-to-Linux migration.
The video was first aired by Dell founder Michael Dell during his keynote address at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco last month.
The video's storyline has brave St Michael leading the downtrodden corporate computer users of Proprietaryville to a new freedom in a place called Global Standardopolis.
All very amusing in a how-can-we-make-an-audience-of-database-administrators-smile kind of a way, but the gimmick also happened to nicely set the scene for a couple of important enterprise-level IT developments over the past fortnight.
Oracle's big announcement at OpenWorld was that it was embracing the Linux open source operating system by offering cut-price maintenance contracts for customers running Linux supplied by Red Hat, the largest Linux distributor.
Then last week Microsoft - the only software vendor in the world larger than Oracle - announced a deal to promote and support Suse Linux from another major distributor and open source champion, Novell. Yesterday Novell said Microsoft would make up-front payments totalling US$348 million ($520 million) to the company as part of the agreement.
These developments illustrate the significance Linux has achieved as a tool of business IT.
Who would have thought that an operating system given away free - and developed and constantly improved mainly for love rather than money by a network of programmers - would be such a success?
As an alternative to Microsoft's proprietary Windows software, Linux is now the operating system of choice for a significant number of businesses, in part for financial reasons. Its open source status mean no licensing fees paid to Bill Gates. That is particularly attractive for large businesses running hundreds of servers.
Although the software is free, a substantial business has been built up around Linux through the support and services offered by companies such as Red Hat and Novell.
Oracle's announcement that it would undercut Red Hat's support costs sent Red Hat's share price tumbling.
As well as recognising the significance of Linux to its customers, Oracle's Linux play was, in part, about sticking it to Microsoft. Oracle would love to see more of the world's Windows servers replaced with Linux, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison would love to knock Gates off the top software perch.
At OpenWorld, Ellison was asked if the Red Hat strategy would be the death of Windows.
"We should only be so lucky," he wryly replied.
The comment drew cheers from the audience of several thousand OpenWorld attendees.
Earlier Ellison had shared the stage with some real-life penguins, in recognition of the Linux mascot.
Meanwhile, Microsoft's deal with Novell signals its recognition that Linux isn't going away and that "interoperability" between open source and proprietary systems is something that customers are increasingly demanding.
That demand is in turn largely being driven by the growth of virtualisation technology, where IT departments make more efficient use of their computing power by running multiple operating systems and applications on the same machines.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer once called Linux a cancer. But in a classic example of customer-led change, Ballmer last week found himself sharing the limelight with Novell boss Ron Hovsepian as the pair explained a deal which will see them remain competitors but also promote the joint use of Suse and Windows.
Novell has spent the past few months busily promoting its new Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 system as a cheap, effective business alternative to the Windows platform and Microsoft's Office applications.
Ballmer said last week the deal between Microsoft and Novell would help "bridge the divide" between open source and proprietary software.
"It will greatly enhance the interoperability between Suse Linux and Windows and it creates an IP [intellectual property] bridge between the open source and proprietary source business models," he said.
All very well, but Ballmer made his pronouncements without the digitised dragons, sword fights or waddling penguins that were a hit for Dell and Ellison at OpenWorld.
Let's hope this type of low-key delivery doesn't take off, otherwise thousands of IT creative marketing jobs could be at risk.
