[Tfug] Open Source solutions

[Rich]

On Aug 22, 2007, at 8:47 am, Eric G wrote:

> I know this might not be the place for it (hey it's free unix
> evangelism, right?) but what the hell.
What better place? (That's not rhetorical, btw.)

> Does anyone who is subscribed to this list feel that the time is  
> right  (or is about to be right) to try and get an open source- 
> based network  consulting company off the ground?
Yes. But here? Probably the last place it would work within these  
borders.

Doesn't anyone remember two or three years ago, when Tucson was going  
to be "The Next Silicon Valley"? Today, we're still pottering about  
with PCC, the UofA, a bunch of hosting companies and the shining  
light of the Attack Industry.

What scared the IT execs off? It was a lack of something, but was it  
water, culture, a skilled workforce, public transport, or locality  
(meaning a lack of a lack of sprawl)? Or did the potential high costs  
of cooling present an insurmountable burden? Whatever happened,  
Tucson has been passed over by the IT industry. That says something  
about the potential success of a forward thinking IT consulting  
company: maybe it would be easier to get established as a backward  
thinking Microsoft support company. (I know, acid reflux.)

> I think that especially with Vista and Office 2007 people are tired  
> of  being forced to upgrade (and pay for!) software that they don't  
> really  need.
Not in my experience. There's a lot of delusion by shiny objects and  
people who are totally ignorant of the benefits of OSS, even after  
educating them -- even those who appear, on the surface, to be all  
for it. They'd have to see it to be convinced, and then you'd have to  
hide every shred of Microsoftism to prevent distractions. "All we  
have to do is buy *this* and all our problems will be solved."

> The big argument would be "if XP works, why replace it?" Of  course  
> Microsoft's answer to that is "we're pulling the plug on  support  
> for XP so you have to upgrade to Vista"
Which is where you come in.

"Our company can provide a smooth upgrade path with zero cost for  
software. There is no catch: support for this software would actually  
be *cheaper* than for the run-of-the-mill commercial software that  
OEMs throw in for free; simply because our choice of software is set  
up to be supported."

Just tell the truth.

> Novell's bet the farm on Linux.
Only because they had bugger all else. Have you *seen* their old  
products? Novell is dead! Long live SuSE I mean Novell!

> I'm inclined to agree with them. ODF is awesome (comlete, non- 
> patent encumbered document format) compared to Microsoft's OOXML  
> (which IS encumbered with Intellectual Property and patents).  
> OpenOffice isn't perfect yet, but there are transition options for  
> people (like, say, in Microsoft Office save your documents as ODF  
> documents, etc).
(Unless you use a Mac.)
> Novell also actually has a Small Business Server equivalent, and  
> all the pieces are in place (for some reason freaking RedHat  
> doesn't...) See
Probably because there are other sensible options.

> Anyway does anyone else out int Tucons have any thoughts? I'm young  
> and naive and I want to be my own boss.
And what better place to express it than on an publicly archived  
mailing list! Ouch! I hope that doesn't come back to haunt you.

Good luck
R.