[svlug] svlug Digest, Vol 317, Issue 53

[Alvin Oga]

hi ya clyde

> Clyde Jones wrote:
> 
> I do have a few years of linux administration under my belt, I have
> been running a linux server for my home network for ~10 years 

i'd hide that part ... it doesn't help :-)

> and I
> supported *nix boxes (and everything else) for Johns Hopkins
> University.
 
good .. so you know about formality and what users will do
to the systems, even if they're not supposed to 

> I just don't have a lot of experience with "user-friendly" distro 

user friendly usually means joe-tech and sally secretary can
get their work done without bothering the boss or the in-house-geek
aka the windoze bozo

whether things are done correctly or not is a separate issue
and may not necessarily be a "user friendly" issue vs 
things from the corp view

> this is my first foray into IT for small buisnesses.  Everything I
> have done previously was support for large businesses.

if you want to get the job .. i'd hide that part too 

> The business buying the computers is a medical office, so they have
> one large Windows server that runs the medical information
> application, with client software on the PC's. 

that'd imply they have tons of customers/suppliers with every
kind of host computer and apps you can think about including
dos, win95, win98, winNT, win2k, winXP.. and now winVista..

> Everything else they
> do is basic word processing or spreadsheets, so that should be fine
> for Ubuntu.

if you've dealt with win*!@#$ based apps, you'd know that, those 2 simple
word processing and spreadsheet is the 2nd worst time killers
and problems from hell, where "working" calendering is the worst

*office doesn't even work between *nix distro ... 

good luck trying to get *win* to send *.xls or other formats
to any random *office running on any random untested *nix 
running on any arbitrary hardware 

	90% might all work fine .. but the remaining 10%
	will bite your butt bigtime

most "smart" purchasing managers will buy from vendors
they've been dealing with for 20+ years... and will want
a somebody ( aka corp with $$$ ) to point the finger at
if something doesn't work

that's when the fun starts ... if you can cover your butt
under fire, when *.xls or *.doc doesn't work than
you're in good shape if you have a working solution
in a few minutes

commercial support for *nix comes from rh, novell
and lets say ubuntu and than the gazillion drooling
*nix companies ... now try to explain why the paying 
customers need or would want ubuntu over rh or novell 
to the normal business types that will make the decision ...

that again is where the fun starts

> I will figure out what Ubuntu has for remote access,

that part is lot easier to solve on any *nix distro ...

c ya
the devil