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Issues with commercial installations and advocacy [was ---> Re: Interesting notice in REC Calicut



Hi Atul & others,

Here in Calcutta & around the deployment of Linux servers is going up quite steadily (I am trying to grab some actual
stats)...

I am truly interested (as distinctly separate from from my commercial interest ;) to see the count of Linux
installations go up... These days I sometimes end up facing  clients who spell out quite clearly that they WANT Linux
as the OS for their production server in question. They are absolutely convinced that Linux is the better choice for
their end-product/solution/setup. At one of the last couple of places it was absolute No-No to Win NT and at the other
it was a question between Solaris on a SparcServer 5 or Linux on a Dual Xeon.

The fun usually begins after the server has been custom configured and handed over to the client. Most of the jobs I do
are covered with a 60 days full-support clause including on-site as an when required. Usually I found this to translate
into ~3 on-site visits and the rest can usually be handled via phone/email. In places, where they do have an
experienced admin (read *nix), the things usually go ok with a little hint here, a nudge there.

BUT the problem starts when it is client who steadfastly insists only on Linux, while happens to be a MCSE/MCSD and
believe they are qualified to handle any server. Their  *nix skills are often limited to -- "oh, I worked on Unix when
I was at xxxx three years ago... I know how to use commands ls, rm, kill etc. so Linux being an Unix clone I shouldn't
have any problem...right?" or have the average "skill-level" of the people who did a course at any PTI (private
training institutes...read NIIT/Aptech).

After the 60-day support clause runs out, they still expect us to rush on-site at any minor/major hiccups. For example,
it can be as simple as instead of using /usr/local/apache/htdocs as the WWW root (as specified by us) they will use
/home/httpd and argue that SRM.CONF has been misconfigured by us!!!!! ;) When we try to explain this over mail, a
certain of lack of basic understanding of techie english come into play from the client's part, resulting in problems
with communication.  

What do you (anyone for that matter) do in such case??  Don't deal with clients like these...? Apart from the money
aspect, the idea of one more server installation sometimes acts as a stronger incentive/bait (referring to the advocacy
angle) to take on the job.

I expect such situations are not unknown to people on this list... I agree that these are stumbling blocks that we
would have to overcome in our quest to even greater acceptance of Linux in India. In that context I am interested to
know how to deal with situations like these? 

--Indra.

----------
> From: Atul Chitnis <achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> 
> However, we all know that techies don't necessarily qualify as presenters,
> and maybe *that's* the issue.