Greetings, All! > What arguments do they use to sugest that A Big > Profesional Linux Server would be a better choice, > keeping in mind that the content creators (marketing > and PR types) may have recently been entertained at > a course on how ASP/Front page/.NET will answer all > their problems and so they are chomping at the bit to > get the latest Washington State salvation.. Part of the argument will have to be product documentation (or responses that can be backed up with product documentation) demonstrating that Open Source solutions like Apache can support their needs. Projects like http://www.apache-asp.org/ for ASP support (looks like only legacy, non-.NET), and products like the FrontPage Server extensions for UNIX (http://www.rtr.com/fpsupport/download.htm -- Microsoft EULA applies, but we're talking about options here, right?) provide such backup. Perhaps "compromise" might be a watch-word to bring about the best possible from both, the Open Source and proprietary worlds: running a Linux server with a commercial Web solution like Covalent's Enterprise Ready Server (based on Apache 2.0 and supports ASP/FrontPage/.NET and more) might be an option. At the very least, Covalent, much like RedHat does with Linux, is a commercial entity that "gives back" to the Open Source community through their active involvement in Apache develoment. Being able to answer your customer/client's questions with regard to support for their buzz words in the affirmative may provide a window of opportunity to discuss de-buzzed options as well. Cool is all the more cooler when it costs less and doesn't lose any zing, right? > Perhaps the "next step" would be to prepare some > talking points for these sort of situations. Weather they > amount to magazine articles or marketing material > from Vendors such as Red Hat. (having more than > one Linux vendor making almost the same points > in their sales material would add some legitimacy to > the arguments. Someone mentioned the words "case studies" in an email to this list today...sorry that I can't remember the context (and am too lazy to go look again :) ). Perhaps getting some "real-world" case scenarios (or RFI's) out in front of members of this group would be a good exercise for putting together professional presentations of solutions that people can begin to use in "selling" Open Source solutions in education and beyond. It would give those of us with problems an opportunity to find solutions packaged in digestable format, and those of us with technical, marketing, sales, and other business skills a chance to stretch our muscles and use those skills to further the cause. Refining the "pitch" is what this is getting to...and not just leaving it to the experts at pro-Linux shops like Oracle and HP. This may not be the best forum for such an effort, but finding a better one may be worth the effort in the long-run. -- CW --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chip Witt, MBA Witt'z End Technologies PO Box 885 Cotati, CA 94931-0885 (V) 1-888-719-9277 (F) 1-800-514-3098 (E) chip witt wittzend com (W) www.wittzend.com --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- My OpenPGP Public Key is available at www.wittzend.com/chip_pub.html. Information on GnuPGP can be found at www.gnupg.org. A good primer on cryptography and how it relates to your electronic life can be found at http://www.investigateway.com/pcsec/cryptography.html. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "We should never ever doubt what nobody is sure about". -- Willy Wonka ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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