Fabor, Are you going to be at the next HAMLUG meeting?
You said "That IS what you do for a living", what is it exactly that you do? On the marketing side, if we limit ourselves to Linux and open source we limit out market. Much of the support that is needed is integration of various technologies including windows. Yes, managers have MS blinders but Linux folk have Linux blinders. If we are going to market professional services we should move beyond the bias and address customer's needs with a larger perspective. We seem to have a good amount of windows knowledge among the group as well or MS experts can be found easily. With regard to open source solutions - it's great work if you can find it. And it's great if customers will allow you to implement an open source solution. For myself I'm not limited to open source if the customer wants to pay for it. And it may not be the ideal solution in a given situation. Anyway, marketing and business organization is still the key. Any ideas? Wayne --- Faber Fedor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Sun, Mar 23, 2003 at 05:26:50PM -0800, Wayne > Hardy wrote: > > To Those Interested, > > Hello! > > > I've heard from several of you on this idea of a > business venture to > > provide tech support. That's encouraging. Now > what do we do? > > <snip> > > > 1. Our group represents a tremendous pool of IT > talent in many > > areas which should be valuable to businesses if > they could find > > us. ( The IT talent pool represented by HAMLUG > is, perhaps, the > > best kept secret in Central Jersey.) > > What kind of talent are we talking? From the LUGs > I've dealt with > (LVLUG, NJLUG, dev/plug, etc.), the vast majority of > the talent is > sysadmins or sysadmin wannabees. I'm starting to > see a need for, i.e. > I'm lining up projects that need, programming skills > beyond the sysadmin > level (Perl/Tk, hardware integration, etc.). > > One of the first things that need to be done, > IMNSHO, is to list what > talents you/we have. > > > 2. Some of us do become unemployed from time to > time (especially > > in the current economy), and those working are > often not secure > > in the jobs they do have. > > <soapbox> That's why you need to work for yourself! > Break out on your > own! Be the Boss! Relying on someone else for your > livelihood is > perilous! Master your own destiny! > > Okay, okay, I'll climb down of my soapbox > now...</soapbox> > > > 3. One of the original ideas, when the group > began, was for the > > group to offer tech support to the community > (community > > organizations) especially in the area of Linux - > as sort of an > > outreach aspect of the LUG. > > I think what is also needed (in my geographical area > (NJ) as well as > yours (central NJ)) is an education program. You're > right, a lot > of small companies need part-time programmers and > sysadmins, but more > importantly than that, IMO, is they need to know > what Linux and FOSS can > do for them. Most people are wearing MS blinders > when it comes to what > computers can do for them. We need some way to > educate them. > > > One of the business ideas, or business models, > that intrigues me, in > > the present economy, is to offer part-time or > outsourced IT support to > > companies that cannot, or will not, afford an > in-house IT staff. There > > is an untapped market of companies, small > businesses, small offices, > > who need support of various kinds. > > It's not untapped. Maybe under-serviced, but not > untapped. My company > (Linux New Jersey) does precisely that (although I > specialize in Linux > only). Most "computer companies" provide sysadmin > services, albeit > poorly, IME. > > Again, IME, when it comes to Linux, most people go > with companies that > are Windows-based and say "Yeah, we can do Linux". > When taken up on > their offer of doing Linux, they run out and hire > the first person they > come across who knows what "ls -al" does. I'm hired > to clean up the > disaster that inevitably follows. > > > They cannot afford full time IT > > people but may well use the services of a company > who will provide IT > > support on an as-needed basis. The possibilities > are numerous. > > That they are. That they are. > > > With regard to IT support that is part-time, > as-needed, outsourced and > > cost-effective, the HAMLUG group (plus technical > friends and > > associates) may be an ideal pool to draw from > since many of us are > > available some times but not all the time. (Some > of us pop into > > consulting contracts and later pop back out > again.) (Come to think of > > it, full time jobs are getting like that too.) > > This has been my thought with the other LUGs I've > dealt with. I've had > mild success at it, but, as I've mentioned before, > it's the kind of > talent that matters, not just Good (Technical) > Intentions. > > > I think the market is ready for what we are > ideally suited to provide. > > It simply needs some business organization and > some marketing to make > > it happen. > > Agreed. > > > These are nice ideas, but the devil is in the > details. Business > > administration is needed and some real marketing > work. I'm wondering > > who has a serious interest in this and who is > willing and available to > > do some work on it? > > Well, considering that this *is* what I do for a > living, I'm obviously > interested. > > > -- > > Regards, > > Faber > > Linux New Jersey: Open Source Solutions for New > Jersey > http://www.linuxnj.com > > > __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop! http://platinum.yahoo.com
