[luau] Thinktech Hawaii and Linux/Unix

[maddog]

I take all of your coments in stride. I read them all and they are well
thought out. Gary had a great comment about being an outspoken advocate,
that is not always the best approach when you are trying to get people to do
something they don't like to do, namely change. Microsoft owns the desktop
market and yes Open Office and the other open source Office Suites have come
a long way. When sharing calendars and calendaring in general , and sending
meeting requests can equal what Microsoft has done with Exchange and Outlook
then I think Open Source will have a chance. Another thing that is quirky in
Open Office is the Document translation. Now I could go on and on about this
subject but I choose not too and I choose to listen to you folks and ask you
to help me understand the power behind Open Source.

You do not need to convince me so don't bother. I am perfectly capable of
making that choice on my own but you folks posses a knowlege that I would
like to tap into and that is what the show should be about, educating the
average Joe on why open source is a viable choice.

Now as far as my comment about open source going against teh grain of
business. I don't know how long you folks have been invloved with the
business community here, some all their adult lives, I have been for 10
years and all I can tell you is that is is very archaic in its beliefs. It
believes that everything should be a closely guarded secret and not open to
let your partners or competitors see. By definition the fact that anybody
can take a Linux Kernel and turn it into whatever they want is inherently
scary to a business. All businesses operate on the theory of capitalism and
that lends itself to open source but the fact that I can downloadf Linux
freely off the internet is scary to most business people I know. You mean
you don't have to pay for it? How is it controlled? Where are the standards?
Who keeps an eye on all this? The Open Source Community? Who is that? Who is
head of it? Who do I do business with?

There are a ton more questions that get asked. It is intrinsically against
what a business exec is taught at business school. I believe that all of
these boundaries can come down. Wht is needed is not outspoken criticism of
the person's choice in operating systems that is the fastest way to stop
them from listening to you. What is needed is education on the benefits of
Open Source Computing. You don't sell somebody something by telling them how
bad what they currently have is, you sell them something by telling them how
they will benefit from using your product. Why do you think the supplement
market is so good? There are certainly not any outspoken critics of how I
eat now but they tell me if I use there product I'll look like Arnold
Swartzenegar(sp) 25 years ago. That is why I would buy their product.

Sorry to be so long winded here but I think someone needs to take a step
back and look at the approach to this situation. YOu are asking people to
switch from a product they are comfortable with using to a product that,
from the Running Linux book by O'Reilly says, "If you are a Windows user
switching to Linux you have a long learning curve". That my friend is going
to make replacing out Windows Servers and Desktops in the common business
environment very difficult. THe web community is very different from the
common business because it is on the leading edge or bleeding edge of
technology.

Don





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