Leaving interoperability out of the KCLUG booth

[kurt at verruckt.org]

----- Original Message -----
From: "DCT Jared" <jsmith at datacaptech.com>
To: <kclug at kclug.org>
Sent: Friday, October 24, 2003 12:34 PM
Subject: RE: Leaving interoperability out of the KCLUG booth

1. The keynote speech this year is not about Longhorn, but about integrating
Linux into your workplace. Clearly, we are not the only ones aware of this
notion anymore.

EXACTLY, "INTEGRATING"... i.e. mixing in...

2. I've learned two things: The attitude towards Linux in business is not
"we have windows, why would we want to change," but more like "Windows is
costing a lot of money, we need to trim costs, what are our alternatives?"
And, I've learned that migrating to Linux within a business environment is a
LOT OF WORK. You do not make a
switch 'without productivity disruption,'  as I naively believed a year ago.

Show them how easy Linux is. Show them how EASY linux is, how SIMILAR is it
to what they already ahve. The less trainging, the less cost...

Open Office is not 'equal' to MS Office. It is better; but it takes a while
to learn how to use it because it thinks differently, and that period of
time learning Open Office can make or break a Linux switchover.

Show them the difference/similarities... It makes sense

Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be spent in Kansas City alone over the
next ten years migrating toward Linux. I am very eager for Linux-oriented
consultants and integrators to make this money. I am very eager for KCLUG to
be a meetingplace and resource for such consultants. However, I am not eager
for KCLUG to lose its Linux focus over time. I am carefully proposing that
KCLUG stick close to Linux as a complete solution, not play into a hybrid
environment which will continue to be dominated by Windows as long as Linux
is a bolt-on, instead of a complete solution.

You can never fully explain how Linux is superior, unless you can show
side-by-side how it is better, or at the very least equivalent. The cost
factor should prove itself.
As you can see, Linux has arrived. IBM, Novell, Motorola, these kinds of
folks are using and defending Linux in a huge way. SCO is a gnat. Our labor
is not to prove what everybody else is proving: that "Linux is
interoperable."  Our position is to stand firm that a total Linux solution
is the best way to go.

-Jared

The best Linux solution for a company is the one that costs them the least
amount of hassle/money. That is/what should be shown.

Kurt