Proper ettiquette for posting messages

[Fritz Whittington]

On or about 2004-01-07 10:26, Benjamin J. Weiss whipped out a trusty #2 
pencil and scribbled:

>On Tue, 6 Jan 2004, Tom Mitchell wrote:
>
>  
>
>>On Tue, Jan 06, 2004 at 09:45:11AM -0600, Benjamin J. Weiss wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>>>Perhaps, but we run automated computer audits that track all .exe's for
>>>>>unauthorized downloads.  :(
>>>>>
>>>>>I think that when I finish upgrading my server to FC1, I'll probably try  to
>>>>>learn how to use mutt and just access my email via ssh...
>>>>>
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>Just curious, but could someone sneak around this by plugging in a USB
>>>>flash drive and installing
>>>>        
>>>>
>>...
>>    
>>
>>>risk my job. The policy is clear, the audit software shows that management
>>>is serious about enforcement, and I have a mortgage to pay. :)
>>>      
>>>
>>Complain in a productive non-confrontational way about your mail agent
>>software in the context of productivity, virus propogation and
>>repetative stress injury.  Mice are notorious trouble makers for RSI
>>and any tool that let you keep your fingers on the home keys, like
>>mutt or pine, is a big help for some.
>>    
>>
><snip> 
>  
>
>>The sad part is that numerous and unending flaws and troubles with
>>various common tools have forced company policy guys into decisions
>>that limit user choices to no end.
>>    
>>
><snip> 
>
>The sad thing is that I had my boss convinced to get rid of all of our 
>aging NT4 domain controllers and file servers, and switch to RH9 running 
>samba.  Now, fedora changes too rapidly to use as a server, and we don't 
>have the cash for RHEL.  So it looks like we're stuck with NT4 for awhile.  
>*sigh*
>
>I was even wearing him down about linux on the desktop, but now that RHL 
>is no longer an option, my bosses postion is basically "if we're gonna 
>have to pay that much for a desktop os (RHEL/WS) then we may as well stick 
>with one that we know (windows)".  
>
>RHEL/WS Basic edition is $169.  WinXP Pro upgrade is $169.99.  What with 
>having to re-educate all of our users, etc, there's just no way.  Oh, 
>well.  *sigh*
>
>Ben
>  
>
And the latest MS Office is $699 + a five-year upgrade contract + who 
knows what all.  Star Office is about $60, IIRC.   OOo might be good 
enough for a lot of seats and is free.

But the greater problem is in thinking that "one size fits all", and the 
reality is that computers for secretaries, managers, file servers, web 
servers, DB servers, and programmers don't really have to be all the 
same.  As long as you can interoperate (Samba, Star Office, MySQL, etc. 
) develop platform-independent (Java, XML, etc.) then some real money 
can be saved, both in HW and SW  costs and in programmer productivity 
and in software development re-use.  But I admit it's a really hard sell 
once you get out of high-tech savvy start-ups and into large 
private-sector and public-sector orgs.  Takes a lot of effort to 
understand all the trade-offs and ultimate costs. 

But your boss is worried about future support for Linux so he's going to 
hang on to NT4???

-- 
Fritz Whittington
"You need only two tools. WD-40 and duct tape. If it doesn't move and
it should, use WD-40. If it moves and shouldn't, use the tape..."

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