[Sussex] Giving something back

[Nik Butler]

I mentioned this conversation to the MD, 

it sparked quite a valid conversation which if I summarise ( badly ) comes
down to many of the sentiments that Stallman, Raymond, Perens and Bleasdale
seem to be keen on re-refrencing. 

to summarise:
The Open Source community needs to teach itslef who to communicate with the
business community in order to reach a credible standpoint. Open source is not
better , its not free. It is a Alternative , an alternative to fees, and
constriction. Its not open or free its Access which makes Open Source a
credible alternative.

Paul Pruszynsky ( the MD ) pointed out that when Actus first got involved with
ME things where quite adversarial ( Operating System Wise ). It was my
continued education  through validation that has made him the Open Source
convert that he is. Whilst every OS has its place he sees the real valu ein
having access to all levels of a Applications implementation especially when
considering support and implementation. 

I can honselty say I have not comprimised on my view that Open Source is the
Best Advice for every SME but ive implemented a language that makes my
presentation more credible to the respective buyers. 

Ive seen ( even in this list thread ) quite a lot of Atypical Geek ( its a
good word for this ) attitude towards promoting, encouraging open source. It
tends to be that we see a problem, examine all the issues and then go back and
examine al lthe issues surrounding those problems until we hit a issue that
appears unresolveable then we all stop and say it cant be done. 

Allow me to address a few points that always get raised.

1. Competition
Yes there might be other people out there doing it already but, and I cant
make this more clear if I try, there is ALWAYS space in the market for a new
view on a old product. look at Dyson, Amstrad, Virgin, Redhat for example. 

2. Market Awareness
Just because no one has heard of it or uses it does not make a idea invalid or
not worth supporting. Acceptance starts from within and is demonstrated in
application.

3. Responsibility.
Trading on anohter persons Ideas or Products seems a little unethical. True it
seems but Linus does not want to be another Microsoft, Cox just wants to code
and find new things to do, D'Guaza[sic] wants to keep annoying Micorsoft. If
the business minded Geeks dont tell every one else these guys would just sit
in obscurity. The Beatles were famous not because they could write/play music
but because of the agents, promoters, studios, PR and RD and APR people. none
of whome actually wrote or played the music.


Steve & Geoff theres plenty of excellent reason to start a business and theres
plenty of business out there to take without stepping on toes ( see Neil Ford
for proof of that <grin>) You want to promote Linux. Excellent that makes it
easier for all of us to talk about it.

Just keep the idea simple, dont overplan or over stylize the concept simply
say my idea is valid and I will seek to make a profit from it. 


Im happy to find the work for you guys and give you opportunities I can see me
doing that within the next few onths anyway but id rather get the work in and
farm it out to another business than to some employees that I have to manage. 

Im wanting to runa support/awareness company not a development company. how
about you ?


Anyway thats it for now.


Nik