Kevanf1 wrote:
On 4/15/05, Sid Boyce
wrote: Allen wrote: <STUFF DELETED>
Big deal, I've bought mutliple copies of SUSE, I make people around me buy it because I refuse to even copy it for them, and I won't even install it for them if they ask. I make them buy it, I wrote articles with SUSE, like product reviews for AntiOnline, Irecommend it to everyone, a friend of mine who's hiring me for a Govt job as a "Network Security professional" I made him take RedHat off, and now they even have it running on a big ol main frame.
Hey!, less of the big and the ol. These days the mainframe is difficult to spot in any large installation, they are energy efficient, run like "shit off a shovel" and as remarked by one of my customers, the workhorse in any shop. I could install 7 mainframes up and running in the time it takes to install any large SPARC box of the same size, like the Sun E15K or Fujitsu Primepower 2500. The SPARC boxes are good money earners compared, the mainframe is too darn easy and blows away whatever comes second.
They are currently installing it on a few servers to give it a try, and they arebuying more because they were impressed as hell.
And now, in my Network Analysis and Design class, EVERY LAPTOP IN THERE EXCEPT TWO ARE NOW RUNNING SUSE. All bought and paid for. And the Servers are maybe going to switch as well.
I even got Teachers there who went out and nought it on my recommendations and use it now too.
And if you ever visit AntiOnline, you'll know I more than make sales for them. And now that Novell owns it I push even harder so that they know SUSE is a well loved OS.
I've gotten quite a few RedHat users to switch. Hell, usually the only thing I have to say is "You don't have to sign up for an account like with RHN" and they buy it.
I've gotten people to pay for SUSE more than 100 times just on my word. I wrote tutorials, and I've written security tutorials for locking it down for specific server use.
Good work, but I've also found that I've had to use my CD's to install the first one, then people usually bought the next versions. I was also surprised by the number of colleagues who had installed SuSE dual boot on their work laptops and PC's at home, but didn't use it, in these cases, I gave them a tour of SuSE on my laptop to show them that they could use Linux and forget Windows. One of our salesmen even introduced me as a Linux bigot to a customer I knew well and who wanted to install linux on their mainframe, just seeking advice. One colleague installed SuSE himself, then asked me a few questions to sort out small problems and wrote up a word doc using OpenOffice which he distributed to all our UK employees to show them they didn't need Windows. Five years down the road, the landscape will look much prettier for Linux, it'll sell itself and spread everywhere, gone will be the strange looks and comments when Linux is mentioned. It used to be a much tougher sell just a few years ago, even very tough six years ago, eight years ago, you were battered by colleagues for using Linux to do stuff for work, you just had to have a hard shell, knowing that many would come around in their own good time.
Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM Mainframes and Sun Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux for all Computing Tasks
I think Sid has the right idea here. I have to say that this thread seems to have reinforced something that am American friend of mine told me over the weekend. He's an M$ user but because of my constant praise of open source and SuSE Linux he is now seriously thinking of trying Linux. However, he has come up against the same heavy handed types who I ran up against a few years ago. Linux users who seem to be holier than though. He's come up against some real arrogant types. For goodness sake this is not what we want to portray.
Just some thoughts and observations...
I've always practised what I preach, that is to be as helpful to newbies as you can, we all started out with a sum of zero Linux/Unix knowledge and built up from there. The strongest advice I give is that Linux is not Windows or a Windows clone, it's totally different, so you approach it saying "I know diddly squat about this stuff" and you will be on the right track, there is always lots of good help to be had, so don't let anyone put you off. We had a healthy linux TCP/IP over hamradio group in the UK many years ago and we drew serious flack, the group included people like Alan Cox, but the main concentration seemed to be us, not too many miles down the M6 motorway from you, Birmingham, Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield and we had a number of guys elsewhere in the UK using Windows/OS2 who got seriously bent out of shape at the very mention of Linux though they'd never even seen it working, we got called all sorts of names, "Boy's Own Unix" and worse, but we held our own and gave as good as we got .... you've seen flames from Pete, G6NJR on here, the ones then were white heat itself. Our main flamer stopped when he realised he was the main recruiting seargeant for Linux on the hamradio newsgroup, he was doing a great job spreading Linux for us, one guy told that since he was so set against Linux, he just had to try it for himself. Regards Sid. -- Sid Boyce ... Hamradio License G3VBV, Keen licensed Private Pilot Retired IBM Mainframes and Sun Servers Tech Support Specialist Microsoft Windows Free Zone - Linux for all Computing Tasks