Meeting April 12, 2005 (New Speaker)

[Andrew Cowie]

On Tue, 2005-12-04 at 10:50 -0400, Robert Brockway wrote:

> Topic:		Tales from the Dark Side of the Moon

The abstract for this one follows; but as Robert says, I've a decent
quiver of presentations to draw from, so we can always pick something
that is of interest.

        "Tales from the Dark Side of the Moon" What it actually takes to
        successfully deploy and maintain open source software.

Abstract:

        No one tells you about this part. Deciding to use Linux and
        other Open Source software is easy. Actually deploying,
        maintaining, sustaining, and above all using open source
        software to meet your business's needs - now that's hard. 

        How to accomplish these things is a mystery for most
        organizations. There is the issue of skills - what sort of
        people are you going to need maintain your systems and grow them
        to meet future needs? And the systems themselves? What
        architecture ties them together? You need to design your
        infrastructure and processes so that you can sustain them cost
        effectively.

        The darkest secret of all is that it's really about the software
        at all - instead, you need to build a culture of operations
        professionalism in your company or organization. By
        concentrating on what is important instead of what is urgent,
        you can stop fighting fires and start making a difference.

        Using Open Source software is the cornerstone of making this
        possible, but to succeed takes more than good intentions. We'll
        discuss what you need to put in place to leverage the strengths
        FOSS without getting bogged down by the ever-present pitfalls of
        technology.

Given the crowd of old hands in TLUG, I'd certainly be interested to
hear people's views on some of the themes here, I have every intention
of provoking a lively discussion.

See you tonight.

AfC
Toronto

P.S. Always happy to sign GPG keys - bring your fingerprint and some ID
if interested.

-- 
Andrew Frederick Cowie
Management Consultant

Technology strategy, managing change, establishing procedures,
and executing successful upgrades to mission critical business
infrastructure.

http://www.operationaldynamics.com/

Sydney   New York   Toronto   London

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