Re: [SLUG] Re: is it just me?

From: Mike Dittmeier (mike@bluecrabtech.com)
Date: Sat Nov 27 2004 - 12:49:12 EST


All of the issues being presented are noted, and and in most parts
agreed with. What I am noticing as a trend, was the original reason for
me starting my business. We keep mentioning the fact that small
businesses are left in the dark, either because of a perception that
they can't afford us, or they don't have a challenging need for us. That
sounds a little reminiscent of the proprietary software manufacturers
that I'm sure we all philosophically compete with. If I can get 3000
systems to setup that only take 1 hour to finish, vs 300 that take me a
week each, am I working to hard or not hard enough. My feelings were and
still are, that it doesn't matter. I feel that the small mom and pop
shops are just as deserving of a lower TCO as the next business. What we
are really dealing with is the legacy of previous companies that lack
the integrity to properly inform the small business owner of what they
really need to run their business. In most cases, a good word processor,
spread sheet and accounting package is all that is needed.

I don't want anyone to think I'm trying to be a crusader for the small
folk either. The primary reason for this idea was to create a templated
set of configuration files, weather they are used by SLUG members for
their own home system or used by consultants to ease the tasks involved
in rolling out Linux to the businesses they support. With enough input
from folks, a set of templates will eventually expand out to
applications other than those installed from our distributions such as
accounting , payroll, and CRM solutions. The idea here is to share
information and establish a base to learn from. Isn't that what open
source is about?

Ditt

On Sat, 2004-11-27 at 11:55 -0500, steve szmidt wrote:
> On Friday 26 November 2004 10:05 pm, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> > On Fri, 2004-11-26 at 18:19 -0500, Mike Dittmeier wrote:
>
> > > The idea in mind is to create a simple install pack that will reduce and
> > > standardize the installation of smb servers for customers as well as
> > > spreading the work on Linux.
>
> > > A large portion of the business industry is small mom and pop
> > > businesses, that I feel have been left out of the linux world.
> >
> > Most of it is due to unrealistic expectations. If you're a consultant
> > planning to cater to mom & pop shops, I don't want to deter you, but
> > it's really not an area where you want to be charging money. I find it
> > has the same problem as many other industries, the savings are expected
> > across the board, including how much people expect you to charge them.
> >
> > I often got stuck trying to solve unrealistic application requirements,
> > where the shop got themselves into using a mission-critical application
> > that was very eccentric.
>
> Having dealt with many smaller companies I've found "mom and pop" companies
> can easily become a liability.
>
> The problem being that they for one (usually) have NO realistic assessment for
> what is needed. They don't understand the pro's and con's between things and
> have so many false ideas that one has to very clearly have that worked out in
> writing before doing anything.
>
> Let's say (for example) mission critical sounds great to them and someone said
> you can have that if you use a Dell server. Now that is partly wrong, as Dell
> is not the definition of mission critical, but a brand name. But they are now
> certain it is and you come in and may not notice it. If you don't handle that
> misunderstanding you can end up with some weird problems dealing with them.
>
> Likewise (sticking to this example) it's highly unlikely they need a mission
> critical setup. They usually go home at 6pm and have lots of downtime.
>
> If they do trust you and know they don't know, it can be a nice and easy job.
> But then we come to the next problem with many small companies. Can you
> afford to work with their budget?
>
> How about support?
>
> For these reasons I really prefer real business to business relationships.
>
> > > Commercial software developers don't provide as many aps for linux as
> > > they do for Windows for a reason.
> >
> > Marketshare? But even beyond that, there's another reason. Because
> > Linux _is_ more popular than we reality.
>
> Yes, definitely. But it IS changing. And will reach big saturation soon as
> they realize this is something many will need to do to stay competitive,
>
> > When you see Windows, you know it is Windows. Microsoft ensures this.
> > They don't cater to vendor black boxes -- at least not until recently.
> > And even then, it's still the "Microsoft support is external" issue for
> > an OEM/vertical vendor.
>
> Yup.
>
> > > That can be changed very quickly if we can convert a large portion of
> > > these smb businesses to linux. My plan is to pull together alist of
> > > commonly used packages that provide all of the services and apps used
> > > by smb business to include accounting packages, pos sytems, and so on.
> >
> > I wish you the best of luck. If it's a Freedomware project largely done
> > for free, it will do well.
>
> Yes, me too. If you can consult with in-house MIS and just charge for
> consulting time it could be viable. Or you better have small overheads.
>
>

-- 
Mike Dittmeier, RHCE, MCSE
mike@bluecrabtech.com

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