My world is a happy place right now.
Debian has introduced their own web based ISO creation app, Debian Live Studio.
The potential is enormous. If ever there was a time to proclaim that “It’s your Linux” as we do here at BEL Project, it is surely now.
Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?
Linux is not a ‘cut rate’ system that only people and businesses with little to no money uses out of desperation.
Linux is not developed by people and companies who don’t intend serious use of their software.
For the informationally challenged, most of the software and code for GNU/Linux is written and developed by no less than some of the top programmers in the world. That is the truth of it. These are programmers employed by IBM, Oracle, Novell, HP, Dell, General Electric and many more.
It just so happens that many of those developers also happen to believe, just as people like Ben Franklin did, that patents and copyrights are not good things.
They think that making information and software available to everyone is the best way to go about things. IN many, if not most cases, many of the same people benefited themselves from others freely donated contributions and are working on the same principle.
Also, many of these same developers have a vested, personal interest in the software they are developing because it has personal use and meaning to them. It’s not just software they are getting paid to write that they will never use in their day to day jobs themselves. This is software that is made to help someone they know or even themselves, so they want to make sure it is working to the best of it’s ability.
The best part of it is, just as often as not, by making software ‘open’, you can get help improving on a program because someone else is wanting a program for themselves just like the one you are making. Thus, free collaboration is born.
Linux is not made to replace Windows or Apple or any other OS. It is meant to be installed intentionally and with the knowledge that you are using some of the best software ever written, by people who use it just like you do.
It’s something that OS fanboys and people with no facts like to toss around when discussing operating systems other than their favorite. “You’ll lose a lot of money in re-training everyone to use the new software.”
This is not the whole story
In regard to users, the current generation in the workplaces of the world has been using computers since at least high school and the following generation since elementary school. The vast majority of people in the workforce are familiar with “common” software such as word-processors, spreadsheets, email, internet browsers and more.
Most open source applications are created with these common experiences in mind. They are not trying to introduce software that is alien to users, they are producing software that is similar to what exists without the proprietary closed-ness and high prices.
The objective is to put an application in front of users that will barely cause an interruption in how they work. They will take a bit of time to familiarize themselves with the very similar toolbars and commands and then will get right into the swing of things. There is no real “re-training” that is required here.
When it comes to specialized applications, training is always involved regardless of who it’s made by. This is because it’s a specialty app and most users have never had a need to be familiar with it until it was requested of them to use it. So, training is training in that regard and applied equally across the board.
In regards to technical support and admin staff, There is where you may see some costs involved. However, remember that on the server/technical end of things, training is pretty much an ongoing process as updates and upgrades, software companies going out of business and new products that meet needs better being released.
Every technician and admin should expect to participate in ongoing training and education in new concepts and new developments. They should also be prepared to be open minded toward new technologies as the tech/sysadmin field is forever changing.
Only 10 to 15 years ago, Novell Netware was one of the most installed and depended on network operating systems in this country, but now, it is not. People had to be re-trained to use the new operating systems like MS Windows and AS400 and updated versions of Unix.
So, businesses big enough to have IT staff should already have training budgets and schedules ready. If they don’t, they are poorly prepared and are going to be caught out along the lines anyway eventually.
Something else to consider is tech preparedness.
The most prepared and well positioned technicians are those that come from ‘nix backgrounds. The person trained in Unix or Linux of some variation has only a small adaptation to move into another ‘nix like system. Even Those trained in Novell Netware are not hard pressed to pick up nix knowledge as the similarities were already present.
The least prepared techs are those who are trained only in MS Windows software. Adapting from MS software to any other OS base is the most difficult as MS software is least like ‘nix based systems. The cost to the business wi l be higher to train MS only trained techs to a ‘nix style software system than it will be to train any other tech who has training from a ‘nix like background.
How is this important to the discussion? Because if a company hires people who are trained in a closed, proprietary environment with no experience outside of that limited area, they have set themselves up for un-preparedness. They created a situation and fully bought in to vendor lock in willingly. A little foresight and knowledge of the ever changing landscape of software should lead businesses to not hire techs with limited education and experience. That business has already decided the increased cost of training for future changes of software was to happen.
