RE: [PLUG] Consulting rates and more

I can't give you an example using Linux, but we have had a similar experience with a Java GUI as well. Our users went from a completely menu-driven application on a Unix front-end accessing a Unidata database to a windows-esque environment using a GUI written in Java Swing. With the proper training and minimal hand-holding, our users took to it and became power-users very quickly. Linux GUI environments have come a long way since only a few years ago. If you train the person properly and implement the proper security, it shouldn't be a big deal. Our users grumbled for the first week just 'cuz of the change, and then we haven't heard a word about it since.

> My
> question is this: Do the other small business consultants on
> the list
> have any reservations about putting a Linux system in front
> of a novice
> user? Please give some detail about factors used when making
> the o.s.
> choice.

I can describe my experience in a somewhat similar situation: replacing a
20-year-old Business Basic system with a graphical UI system written in
Java. The users did not expect to be able to run anything other than this
app (they weren't doing word processing, internet, whatever). The old
system had been very stable and management's first priority was stability
(and their second priority was cost), so we put it on Linux boxes both for
the server and the end users. We chose a Windows-like window manager to
increase user comfort, and locked down everything except this application.

If your users want to use these boxes for other purposes as well, that might
be more of a problem, but we found the Linux solution to be fine. Oh -- we
automated everything, so that you could reboot by clicking a button and the
app would come back up automatically, etc. The idea was to avoid a user
ever having to interact with the OS. Naturally, also lots of error-catching
code, exception handling, etc. The idea was that modules might crash, but
the app as a whole wouldn't. If it did, you had to reboot.

Jacob
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