On Sun, 30 Mar 2003, Faber Fedor wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 29, 2003 at 01:33:30PM -0800, Wayne Hardy wrote: > > Fabor, > > > > Are you going to be at the next HAMLUG meeting? > > You guys meet south of Princeton on Wednesday nights, right? I'm > up in Bloomfield until 6 PM on Wednesdays until May. Wrong group. LUG/IP meets on the third Wednesday of the month. I believe HamLUG meets once a month on a Tuesday. I'm not sure which Tuesday, but I know I normally can't make any Tuesday (but the two groups are not geographically that far apart). Ed C. > > > You said "That IS what you do for a living", what is > > it exactly that you do? > > I'm a consultant that specializes in Linux and FOSS. Check out my > website (www.linuxnj.com) for more info. > > > 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. > > So let me see, if I need help with getting my WinPrinter working with my > windows XP and 2000 network, I would go looking for help at the local > Linux User Group? > > > If we are going to market professional services we > > should move beyond the bias and address customer's > > needs with a larger perspective. > > What is the goal here? To provide technical computer support or to > promote Linux and FOSS? I'm not saying that FOSS is suitable for all > occasions, but that should be our push. > > If you want to start a computer company, great. Go for it. There are > dozens of companies that you can model. I, OTOH, want to help small > businesses use FOSS where possible. > > > With regard to open source solutions - it's great work > > if you can find it. > > Or make it! > > > And it's great if customers will > > allow you to implement an open source solution. > > But what if they don't know that there are FOSS solutions? Of course > everyone uses MS Office, because there's no viable alternative, right? > And my employee who simply answers emails and telephones all day simply > *must* have Windows XP with all the bells and whistles to do her job, > right? And of course, if you need a web site, you go with the market > leader Microsoft, right? > > Part of out job is to educate, to show that there are alternatives to > proprietary software. Is there a FOSS solution to every problem? No, > that's why we shouldn't push a FOSS solution to every problem. > > > Anyway, marketing and business organization is still > > the key. Any ideas? > > First, figure out what kind of business you want to be. Who is your > market? It sounds like you want to be a more-or-less traditional > computer company. How do they do they're marketing? Are you aiming for > the consumer or the business market? That will tell you how you're > going to advertise. > > > -- > > Regards, > > Faber > > Linux New Jersey: Open Source Solutions for New Jersey > http://www.linuxnj.com > > > >
