Advice to an SME; If you are a Small or Medium sized Enterprise

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Nov 5, 2001

This is part of my reaction to an article in Linux GaJzette. I have reacted directly to Linux Gazette on other aspects, but I want to write here about the general situation which is described. Some non-Linux users may be surprised to see such negative views about Linux expressed in a forum for promoting Linux, but most Linux users are dismissive of spin, so cutting criticism can be accepted.

Apparently we have someone working in a Small or Medium size Enterprise (SME), which I do too, and they want to use Linux, which I already do. Running an SME is difficult. You don't have thousands of dollars to jet off for conferences and courses on every change which is going to hit you and the choices you make can still be make and break. This is a rather sorry story of someone hoping Linux will fall into place, or maybe emerge like a genie from a lamp, and giving up in despair. What advice would I have given to make the expectations realistic and the outcome useful?

When I read that as a first bridge head into the world of Linux someone is going to install on a real simple laptop, I find myself sniggering in an uncontrollable Beavis and Buthead manner. This mine-field needs marking, because a lot of people fall into it; as I wrote previously, Laptops are the most difficult.

The easiest Linux system to install is a Linux server. A pc which sits in a corner, occasionally used with a keyboard and mouse, but mainly working across the network. If you are going to give Linux a try, forget all ideas that this will be easier than changing to a different version of Windows or Word and accept that just like when you were a child and they took the stabilizer off your bike, you will have to learn.

Setup a PC with Linux and then start reading up and playing with it. Take time to consider what you need your IT systems to do and search the web for Linux software which is available for that, download it and try to install it. If you get problems, try to work out what is going wrong and contact the email list, which most Linux software has, to get help from other users or the developer. Try to find a middle way between getting bogged down when one thing does not work, and just giving up on everything which does not work perfectly first time. This will teach you the most about Linux's strong points and your own.

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The copyright of the article Advice to an SME; If you are a Small or Medium sized Enterprise in Linux is owned by Ian Carr-de Avelon. Permission to republish Advice to an SME; If you are a Small or Medium sized Enterprise in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.