Different world perhaps? (was Re: Converting to Ubuntu)

[Yu Meng Chong]

----- "Bill Campbell" <linux-sxs at celestial.com> wrote:
 
> Rarely do our clients ever do much admin
> configuration work as that's what they pay us to do.

I see you live and work on an island too, Bill! I've often wondered what it would be like if Singapore was off the coast of the USA, or Hawaii (yes!).

Your observations are interesting and I see the same things in Singapore, but with an added twist, I think. My customers also prefer not to do the admin, but some can handle the networking part fine, and try to do it by themselves. I'm on good terms with the local Novell office, but I don't ask nor do I expect any support from them, technical or otherwise. I suppose this is because in Singapore, you really have to be self-reliant as the quality of tech support is VERY spotty. Good for my business, but if you use proprietary software, getting any kind of support is like trying to hit the lottery. There is a certain vendor of UTM firewalls who once said to me that he could not help me out because he travels a lot and only does pre-sales (but did not refer me to anyone else in their tiny local office)! 

This is why I see a huge opportunity developing for open source and Linux in particular. The recession is really starting to bite here, and virtually all companies have cut back on spending. Microsoft has released too many howlers (Vista, even Office 2007 is a bit too much of a leap for some companies), antivirus vendors are not keeping pace with threats, and systems (especially mail systems here) have become too complex for many local SI's. I think it is only a matter of time before Linux makes it to the desktop here (at least I hope so!).

pascal chong