Andrew Kohlsmith wrote: > On Tuesday 08 November 2005 16:22, Jim Van Meggelen wrote: >> For a corporate entity looking for a more formal look at this >> new-fangled open-source telecom phenomenon, I suspect they'll >> find their money was well spent. The folks at IPSandO have >> produced some very well regarded seminars, conferences, >> training and what-all else. For a manager with a $10,000 >> training budget per employee (pretty typical in telecom, if I >> recall), that $200 would be well spent, I'd warrant. > > Well that's the whole point -- For those large companies with > the $10k budget > just for training they'll have already gone with one of the > commercial vendors who come knocking (Mitel in particular)... > It's my observation that Asterisk is a HUGE hit with the SOHO > and SMB crowds... the > crowds who look at > a $200 seminar and say "huh?"
I don't disagree, but there's definitely interest in the big players - they're just not saying anything. Guess we'll have to ask Leif at the next get-together what the demographics were. > I mean hell the all-day very technical seminars I used to go > to for embedded > stuff were only half that and in places like the convention > centre or what I > refer to as the "old" convention centre south of YYZ. They > had breakfast and > lunch provided, you walked away with a fairly hefty set of > manuals, binders > and usually some kind of bag, pen, shirt, etc. all marketing > the company who > put it on (Analog Devices, TI, Burr-Brown, Microchip and > National Semiconductor, to name a few)... These are all larger > companies than Digium, > sure, but even the smaller lunch'n'learns put on by companies > like J&D > Systems and MiSYS were four or five hours long and included > lunch, gratis. > > I'm just saying that Digium seems to be looking at this as an > opportunity to make money, both by having them over and also > by getting them sold on Asterisk and Digium hardware... I > don't know how effective that is. Efffective? That's a fair question. Still, I like the fact that they are promoting this thing as more than a hacker's toy, so I wish them success. The thing is, if you do it for free you get a bunch of geeks looking for a free lunch. If you charge, then no one shows up. Catch-22 >> <plug>Or you can buy our book</plug> > > Very, very true. However people inclined to buy the book are > already interested enough to make an effort to learn. These > "meet > and greets" are > usually aimed at a far less inclined crowd, and US$200 will > push a lot of > them away. Very possibly true. This is a pretty big neighborhood, though, so I hope they at least break even. Jim. -- Jim Van Meggelen [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/2177 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.12.8/162 - Release Date: 05/11/2005
