Allow me to step up on my soapbox for a minute... <rant>
To build any world-class business (or industry, for that matter) Honolulu requires a wide, deep pool of skilled applicants to draw from. I fail to see how Honolulu can become the "Linux capital of the world" when our public high schools are seriously underfunded and UH is more concerned with athletics than academics (i.e., June Jones and his $800K salary). The intellectual infrastructure required to produce skilled workers is sadly lacking in Honolulu. There is no way we can compete with the likes of China or India, both of which have thousands of software/hardware engineers graduating each year from state-run/state-sponsored educational institutions. Importing workers would be difficult at best. We already have brain-drain to the mainland - the cost of living here is too high for most people (including those who return or relocate from the mainland) - how do we fix that? There are no incentives for business to relocate their operations to Honolulu, in fact, you already mentioned your "failed attempts to interest" some clients. The governor is already eyeing the various tax breaks available for technology with thoughts of gutting it completely...thereby reducing their effectiveness. To me, it sounds like Linux has become the current band-wagon or buzzword...I can recall recently when "call centers" were the band-wagon of the day. I think you can plainly see that the call center boom hasn't materialized as promised. </rant> Now, I'm not saying that it's not possible for Honolulu to become the "Linux capital of the world;" I'm just saying that it's highly unlikely. Especially with the way things are looking here, technology-wise. Dwight... -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Hawaii Linux Institute Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 8:31 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [luau] Proposed LTSP Server Config Wow, this is EXCITING! (I apoligize for not trimming the quoted comments; the information contained in these two threads was simply too valuable.) Yesterday, I had breakfast with Honolulu city councilman Rod Tam, who chairs the city council's business development committee. He indicated that he will push a proposal aimed at making Honolulu the "Linux capital of the world" (as part of the multi-billion-dollar Kaka'ako Waterfront development project). Don't laugh at this idea. Let's face it, what other options do we have? Rod and I have been talking about "growing" Linux in Hawaii for quite some time, since when he was chairman of Hawaii Senate's business development committee. I am an outside legal counsel to the national research laboratories of Taiwan, which, in addition to its $500M annual R&D budget, also serves as the incubator of Taiwan's high tech industry. After many failed attempts to interest some of my clients to set up their manufacturing plants here (now you can really laugh at this idea), it becomes patently clear that the kind of high-tech industry that has any chance of growing roots--and creating jobs--on our islands must be software-based, and it must also involve internet and services. And when you mix the three ingredients--software, internet, and service, they magically turn into a 5-letter word: Linux. There is also another urgent reason to consider Linux. Microsoft Windows has become inherently insecure. I am not talking about virus, worms, or whathaveyou--most sysadms think they can handle these problem (until it gets out of control, of course). The problem is that, in order to continue to sell Windows to the Chinese government, Bill Gates has agreed to open Windows' source code to the Chinese government. While most Americans, especially those in Hawaii, don't think about the dire consequences, most major private Chinese have been avoiding Windows like plague. Of course there are other articulable reasons, but I have noticed that many giant financial institutions such as Fidelity, Charles Schwab, CitiCorp, First Boston, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, etc., have recently switched to Linux. Coincidence? While this move can be attributed to their UNIX roots, many actually had been talking about switching to Windows servers. However, in order to have any chance of our city (and eventually the state) adopting Linux, there must be application tools that can do the chores that are now being done with Microsoft Office and WordPerfect. The fact that OOo can now be loaded in less than 10 seconds is certainly a big plus. But whether we can quickly develop a reliable user experience database (for OOo) and compile a list of functional equivalants, holds the key to the next step. Anyway, thanks for the info, Warren. Wayne