[COLUG] Re: Musing on training, another view (Joshua.Kramer)

[charles morrison]

Joshua Kramer wrote:
> Of course, that is all an economics diatribe for now.  But here's a 
> specific question: if someone is forming a new company, to be all 
> open-source based, how easy would it be to tap the local pool of MCSE-type 
> folks and train them on Linux?
>
>   
As a business person, what I see is that you can't train an old dog to 
do new tricks. How that translates is that once Microsoft, always Microsoft.

No matter what you do, you will have a difficult time getting them to go 
another way.

I suppose an exception would be to get some one who does not focus on 
one way: some one who likes languages, who studies all types of systems 
and has an overall look at the market. These are not found easily.

If my company were in London (where I live) rather than in Columbus, I 
would get some one out of high school and send him to "Linux High" for a 
commitment to stay with the company for a while. He would not be biased 
as much and would have the energy and desire to learn a new way. He may 
already know about Linux and is looking for a chance to show he can do 
it. An intern so to speak. It would also be less expensive.

The downside of all this planning is that in the event of a bus 
accident, some one could be found who could bail me out. At 100 plus 
employees, there are others who can get through the tough spots, at 
least enough to get a consultant for an emergency situation.

My concern is more toward "if I use Windows, what will I do when my hard 
drive fails and I am waiting on Microsoft to allow me to reload it". 
This scenario puts Microsoft in control of my company. (I suppose I 
could just buy another copy of Windows and hope it's compatible). In the 
Linux scenario, I have total control of the outcome. It may be 
difficult, but I have control of my company. Microsoft presents a 
serious business risk with their authentication stuff and is a risk I am 
trying to not accept.

As far as training, what I would do is to make sure the trainee was 
skilled at using Firefox, Open Office, Thunderbird and other cross 
platform programs. This eases the transition to other packages and to 
Linux desktop. We use all three of these packages extensively here and 
they work very well. People here fought that for a while, but now it 
seems abnormal to use IE or Microsoft Office. Thunderbird solved some of 
our tracking problems with e-mail. As a matter of fact, Microsoft Office 
is more difficult for us now and we do not want it, even if FREE.

Two of us use Kubuntu client computers: mine and my engineer's 
development system. Our backup and soon to be primary server is also 
Kubuntu. Our phone system runs Linux and works great!!! We are only 15 
people, yet 3 of us can do almost everything to keep stuff running. A 
company of 100 should not be a problem having enough "backup people" in 
the event of an emergency.

Charlie

-- 
Charlie Morrison
American LED-gible, Inc
1776 Lone Eagle Street
Columbus, OH  43228  USA
614-851-1100
FAX  614-851-1121
We use ISO 26300 document standards available through Open Office at http://www.openoffice.org