[plug] National Bank against open source

[sscott at iinet.net.au]

Quoting Ryan <ryan at is.as.geeky.as>:

> I fully understand the points you raised regarding their predicament
> supporting such software - I just want to see if they themselves
> actually understand those points in a way that revokes their earlier
> dismissive statement.  

I can easily answer this - no they dont. 'They' being the person who answered 
your email. He probably doesnt know the reasons behind it. 

Remember I mentioned the bureaucracy?

> 
> If they don't, I'm happy to educate them with my wound-up energy and
> size 11EEE Redwing boots (I actually wear Mack boots) :)

And this is why whenever I try to raise the issue of open source (given the 
current cost cutting measures, something to do with $360M :)), everyone looks 
at me like Im some kind of religious zealot. I actually got asked whether I had 
anything to do with that stupid virus the other day, given my recent rantings 
about SCO....

While I fully appreciate your energy and drive, things work different in the 
dumb end of town. You have to approach things completely differently. Its all 
about baby-steps, and presenting things correctly. If you stomp the door down 
and start screaming, theyll stop listening faster than the speed of light.

The major difference between now and 5 years ago is that there are a few people 
like me working to present the position of the 'smart end of town' in terms 
they understand. There arent many of us, but the numbers are growing, and 
linux/OSS is actually being noticed in a limited sense.

e.g. I currently have a proposal tabled to replace PCAnywhere with vnc. Next 
will be the replacement of Reflection with <insert name of competent vt320 
emulator here>. We're already running Tomcat in a limited fashion. Slowly but 
surely small changes are made where it makes sense. I dont expect us to rip out 
OpenVMS and replace it with linux any time soon, but perhaps one day.

Baby steps, baby steps.... and patience.