Just to clarify i was just using Blue Grass as an example of a small town that might be good to approach... start off with the small towns and work our way up sort of thing.<br><br>Arron<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">
On 9/13/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">David D. Bergert</b> <<a href="mailto:dbergert@dbergert.com">dbergert@dbergert.com</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
This thread and the topic relating to City Governments running linux reminds<br>me of this funny story regarding CentOS and City Manager of Tuttle,<br>Oklahoma:<br><br><a href="http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127">
http://www.centos.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=127</a> &&<br><a href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/tuttle_centos/">http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/03/24/tuttle_centos/</a><br><br>Pretty funny stuff.
<br><br>Also, I think it really comes down to the "main software application" that<br>an organization or municipality runs really drives the environment, and what<br>the vendor of that software provides, when I was last at the city downtown I
<br>remember noting an windows system with a custom VB6 based application that<br>was used for online forms and printing and such. I've seen colleges and<br>universities run RH, Oracle, apache and java, because that is what
<br>BlackBoard system requirements where, at some banks I see a few Unisys<br>Clearpath, AIX, AS/400-iSeries and a few windows systems. I've seen a savy<br>IT admin run a linux box with some linux based monitoring tools, nagios,
<br>mrtg, etc. Where I do see linux, is mostly in appliances, such as security<br>appliances, some soho routers/firewalls printers, with a new custom gui<br>wrapper and the organization knows it as a box and product, pays a pretty
<br>penny for it, and doesn't know (or care) about the underlying O/S.<br><br>I don't know if there is a "SugerCRM" product for the city market....<br><br>With many application webized, and lacking a fat pripority client, I see a
<br>linux based desktop and OpenOffice a lot more viable solution, I think that<br>it will, and think we have seen more international governments take the lead<br>with linux and open source.<br><br>Would be interesting if something could be put together that shows the
<br>community the benefits of linux and open source and how it can impact their<br>business, community, etc...<br><br><br>Cheers,<br><br>DB<br><br>***Sent from MS Vista, because I can't current;y get by Atheros based wi-fi
<br>card, wpa_suppliant, and Madwifi drivers working on etch, gibbon or edgy :)<br><br><br><br><br>From: <a href="mailto:qclug-bounces@qclug.org">qclug-bounces@qclug.org</a> [mailto:<a href="mailto:qclug-bounces@qclug.org">
qclug-bounces@qclug.org</a>] On Behalf Of<br>Jim Hall<br>Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2007 5:11 PM<br>To: <a href="mailto:qclug@qclug.org">qclug@qclug.org</a><br>Subject: Re: [QCLUG] Linux VS MS<br><br>On 9/13/07, John Brun <
<a href="mailto:j.brun@mchsi.com">j.brun@mchsi.com</a>> wrote:<br>I am not sure if there is a stigma associated with government software,<br>as much as there is an empire in the government that needs to be dealt<br>with. Software is decided
nationally.Somebody is some office makes<br>the decision that "Word 2003 is now the only accepted format" and that<br>is that.The govt. spends the money and gets the software.Same goes<br>with operating systems.
<br><br>Since the decision is based on the opinion of a handful of people then<br>forced down the throats of the rest of the government entity, the<br>software choices are usually limed to whatever Dell, or Gateway sells.
<br>In my experience, the software "people" who make the decision aren't<br>really that knowledgeable.They rely on the rest of us (employees at<br>the local offices) to do all the tech support and "fix" their problems.
<br>The fact that Ubuntu, or SuSE, or even Windows 2000 would be better<br>choices at certain offices doesn't ever come into play.Just that we<br>are told how we're to be set up.(this is exactly why we don't want
<br>government deciding health care issues, but I'll leave that to the other<br>forums)<br><br>One other thing. There are big national systems that are running on<br>RHEL.I use one every day.I am not sure what the exact reasons for
<br>setting that system up was, ( i could guess security) but the system is<br>virtually flawless.<br><br><br>John<br><br>Jim Hall wrote:<br>> Mike Robinson wrote:<br>>> What I've found is it always comes down to
price.People are always<br>>> surprised (and excited) when I recommend open office - free sells!<br>>><br>>> Once the user base is built (and large enough) you can demand<br>>> compatibility, which is still the short fall for open office.
<br>>><br>>> Government acceptance would help to.I work for the DoD and there is<br>>> still a stigma associated with open source software that would be nice<br>>> to break, as its my tax dollars being spent as well.
<br>>><br>>> Mike<br>>><br>>> On Fri, 2007-09-07 at 17:15 -0700, RK wrote:<br>>><br>>>><br>>>> ******How can we make the non-technical users understand the<br>>>> ******importance of the decision?
<br>>>><br>>>> Ron<br>>>><br>>>> --- "McKnight, Lee" < <a href="mailto:LMcKnight@bandag.com">LMcKnight@bandag.com</a>> wrote:<br>>>><br>>>>> _______________________________________________
<br>>>>><br>>>>><br>><br>><br>> The two questions above suggest: local tax payer groups?<br>><br>> Also, with the number of different municipalities, other<br>> jurisdictions, quasi-governmental organizations, and other non
<br>> governmental organizations that interact with government in and around<br>> the QC we (and I do mean "WE" -- the members of QCLUG) can surely find<br>> one who will give something like OOo a try, IF some of us are willing
<br>> to hold their hands while they go through the teething process. That<br>> means some on-site and some phone support availability, folks. I know<br>> the LUG was never intended to be a general help desk (and still
<br>> shouldn't), BUT, if you want to change the world, you have to get your<br>> hands in the dirt. I'm doing my part where I am. How many of you are<br>> willing to do the same, even a little bit??<br>>
<br>> "Many hands make light work."<br>> Jim<br>><br>> _______________________________________________<br>><br><br><br>Two observations.<br>1) I'm not so sure that what the City of Davenport runs is determined in
<br>D.C. BTW, part of their system was/is UNIX.<br>2) RHEL is, if I'm not mistaken, a "support by customer pay" version of Red<br>Hat. There are the expected contracts and "pick up the phone and someone
<br>comes". The reason governments and almost all businesses except "Mom & Pops"<br>love this system is because (as you said), they are not knowledgeable. And,<br>far more importantly, they are not culpable if and when it breaks; but will
<br>take the credit if it works. So it's much the safer thing for their careers.<br><br>At any rate, we are really only able to deal with the greater QC area. I<br>hope that's an easier nut to crack.<br><br>Jim<br>
<br>--<br>This message has been scanned for viruses and<br>dangerous content by MailScanner, and is<br>believed to be clean.<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>QCLUG mailing list<br><a href="mailto:QCLUG@qclug.org">
QCLUG@qclug.org</a><br><a href="http://qclug.org/mailman/listinfo/qclug">http://qclug.org/mailman/listinfo/qclug</a><br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>From:<br>Arron James Lorenz<br>Reach Global Networks LLC
<br>MobileTek Inc<br>563-579-7046