[wellylug] DSE & Linux

[Tony Wills]

At 16:18 20/04/04 +1200, Richard Hector wrote:
>I hope I'm not commenting on the wrong things here ...
>
>On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 06:27:53PM -0700, Wood Brent wrote:
> >
> > DSE is pretty well committed (due to new licencing issues with an 
> alternative
> > OS) to using Linux & supporting it's use, and will be promoting it as a 
> viable
> > alternative. Hopefully WLUG will be able to be involved in this in the Wgtn
> > region.
>...
>I like the fact that DSE is doing something about Linux.
>
>However, there are very different levels of support possible.
>
>What I've seen so far is an attempt to gather up some drivers, probably
>test them a bit, and bung them on a CD with Openoffice.org, and stick a
>penguin on the box.
>
>This, IMHO, leads to disappointment. I have 2 cases in mind:

It is great to see retailers getting behind Linux, but we know the 
technical knowledge of most retail floor staff in any large "push the boxes 
out the door as fast as possible" organisation is terrible (if the staff 
actually new anything, they'd probably get a job at more than $10/hr), so 
the customer is going to be directed to their phone help desk for every 
problem big or small - a bit of a turn off.  So yes, they could do damage 
to the credibility of Linux if they ship hardware that they can't support 
across a variety of Linux flavours.  Especially if they end up pulling out 
and reverting to M$ products because they have too many hassles.

But perhaps we should use the ties, made while organising the install-fest, 
to feed back comments to the higher levels of DSE (rather than just telling 
the local staff of the short comings of their approach).  Make sure that 
the organisation really understands the short comings of their approach and 
how it could do them a disservice long term through dissatisfied customers.

--- Tony