[PLUG] The lion in Salem

[chaos at gnutech.com]

>> ...your hubris is astonishing.  Are you really *that* much smarter 
>> than the army of IT professionals the state already employs?

>Probably.  The state's IT workers aren't the brightest lights on 
>the Christmas tree, if you get my drift....

>They're members of a public employee union.  Performance -- or 
>even competence -- is not a job requirement.

>I saw a lot of ignorant MCSEs with inflated egos when I worked 
>there.  Thought they knew everything, but... well....  they're 
>MCSEs.  'nuff said.

Ken,

	I happen to know MANY highly qualified IT professionals (and I do
mean professionals in the best sense of the term) at the State of Oregon and
they're some of the best people I've ever had the opportunity to work with. 

I've lurked for quite some time on this thread. It really bothered me how
running an nmap scan on lion at DAS is considered okay - almost like it's
your civil duty. These admins have enough to do trying to keep the bad guys
out. If you're concerned about whether or not the system is secured
adequately, take it up with the auditors. That's their job. This sort of
activity has been, and is still, considered malicious. Repeated scanning
results in logs being turned over to the authorities.

I respect the cause that you all fight for. Open Source software most
definitely has it's advantages. Linux is a rock-solid OS. The State could
save millions by replacing certain systems with OSS and ditching expensive
proprietary software. But I do not, nor will I ever, subscribe to the notion
that OSS or Linux is the "be all, end all" of software. Everything has a
place. There's balance in there somewhere.

Open Source software will succeed; on its merits, not through legislation.
Just as NO ONE who has ever stood up to Microsoft and tried to compete
against it on the same terms has ever won. They are crushed under the wheels
of Microsoft's market domination. But OSS and Linux are not on the same
playing field. It'll achieve dominance on it's own; it'll just take time. I
use OSS (mainly Linux) regularly and champion its merits whenever I can.

Dave
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