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RE: [PLUG] Consulting rates and more
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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.
Craig
> 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 _________________________________________________________________________ Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org Announcements - http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce General Discussion -- http://lists.netisland.net/mailman/listinfo/plug
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