[CLUE-Talk] IT Samaritans: Linux Adjunct?

[Chris Wiegand]

Speaking as a network admin of a non-profit (alcohol and drug treatment
network), there are some serious issues with linux. Most of us get MS
products cheaper than retail (usually). That reduces the cost issue, so
don't stress that too much. However, we still have to pay for seat licenses
(esp. Exchange). You might stress that it works on older hardware (we aren't
all too often rich enough to buy nice 4-proc servers...). You might also
stress replacement server stuff (ie. IIS vs. apache, PHP/Perl vs.
ASP/ASP.net, Samba vs. Windows File Sharing).

Don't, however, try to sell replacing Exchange unless you know what you're
doing. When I got here back in April, they wanted a way to share their
email, and they wanted a linux server. Okay, a couple weeks later, they had
a RedHat 7.2 box with cyrus imap, and it was good to go. Except the CEO also
wanted to share Outlook's other information: Calendars and Contacts. Let me
say the only 3rd party connector I have found for outlook -> imap for
non-email stuff (it starts with insight and ends with connector) is... less
than I had hoped. If I could I'd ask my boss to get a refund so we could
soften the blow of having to buy Exchange server (which I suspect we'll have
to do).

So, if they want to share their Calendars/Contacts, **know what you're
recommending before you say it**.

Oh, and lowering TCO is nice, you might mention OpenOffice to non-profits
you talk to.

-----Original Message-----
From: clue-talk-admin at clue.denver.co.us
[mailto:clue-talk-admin at clue.denver.co.us]On Behalf Of Jed S. Baer
Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 2:39 PM
To: clue-talk at clue.denver.co.us
Subject: [CLUE-Talk] IT Samaritans: Linux Adjunct?


Along the lines of the K-12 project, I think that getting Linux into the
non-profit arena could be beneficial in various ways, and, as IT
Samaritans is trying to do, advocacy, from and "enlightened self-interest"
direction, can have side benefits of making contacts for employment. I'd
like to think that the non-profits would also like to lower their TCO.

Thoughts?

later,
jed
--
We're frogs who are getting boiled in a pot full of single-character
morphemes, and we don't notice. - Larry Wall; Perl6, Apocalypse 5
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