[PLUG] Need advice, suggestions, etc.

[Percival, Ray]

I don't really have the time to do this. But the reason consultants want you to go to Windows is because that is what they know. You can see this from them saying that it is "harder to figure it out" So yes you are doing the right thing. Good luck in finding someone.



-----Original Message-----
From: Marie Deatherage 
Sent: Wednesday, October 30, 2002 12:47 PM
To: plug at lists.pdxlinux.org
Subject: [PLUG] Need advice, suggestions, etc.


Hello,

I am a former subscriber who recently returned to the fold, as it were.
For the past few years at my workplace, I have been the staff person
assigned to get Internet access for our office, primarily based on the
fact that I set up a LAN and got DSL service for my family at home the
first month it was available in Portland.  Therefore, I was further
along on the learning curve than anyone else in the office, hence the
duties fell to me.  After researching the options, I recommended we use
Linux on a proxy server.  My boss went for the notion, and it has served
us very well from a stability standpoint, but since I have way too many
other job duties, I never had time to learn Linux and just sort of
patched my way through learning just enough to do a few simple things.

We hired an outside source to provide Linux support, but it apparently
went out of business shortly thereafter (hopefully there was no
connection).  We have continued to limp along, but I have been very very
worried about our lack of technical support.

Recently we had a change in our leadership, and our new director is
prepared to get serious about technology.  We've been getting assessed
by outside consultants, and perhaps it will come as no surprise to
anyone on this list that the standard recommendation is to purchase a
windows server and become a windows/access/explorer/etc. world and all
that it entails.  We are told that Linux hardware and software cost just
as much and are much harder to figure out, maintain, etc.  This flies in
the face of what I think I know and believe, but I do not have the
expertise to do much more than raise questions (but what about licensing
fees? etc.) and say things like "That's not what I have heard."

At the individual user level in our office, we are mostly a Macintosh
environment.  We have not yet made the transition to OS X.  We have a
very large database in Filemaker pro.  We have quite a few users who, if
not technophobes, are not particularly sophisticated or confident, so
keeping things simple at the desktop level is a must.  Unfortunately, it
seems that there is a tendency among consultants  to completely overlook
what we already have and recommend that we migrate to windows for
everything.  I am concerned that this snowball could just keep rolling
all the way to the bottom of the hill unless I figure out how to stop
it.

So here is my question:  is there anyone(s) on this list with a combined
expertise in Linux and Mac (esp. OS X) who might be able to assess what
we have and provide an alternative view?  In addition to deciding what
hardware/software changes we might need, we will be looking to hire
someone on a long term part time basis to train staff, sys admin, etc.
etc.

Please contact me privately if you have this expertise and can suggest
something and/or might be interested in following up.

Thank you,
--
Marie Deatherage
marie at mmt.org



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