It has been my experience that Management doesn't want to go open source because then they wouldn't have a valid company they could pursue if a problem occurred with the software. In my circle, this is called "a throat to choke". This is looked at for both support and who they could take legal action against, if necessary. (It's not that we look for suites, but rather it's how we think.)
Also, our company would rather have a canned solution (software and hardware together) over something we put together ourselves. Lastly, all of our solutions must pass the "Lotto" rule, which I may have mentioned on this list[1] long ago. Simply, if the person who is trained on how to use a product wins the lotto and leaves, would it be worth the work/training for the others to continue using the product. If it's easy enough to use without training, it passes the test. If it isn't that easy, but still worth the further investment, it still passes. All of that being said, I tend to lean towards an open source[2] solution, especially as we start looking at how we can expand our services to the school. Doubly so if we need to experiment with a solution with little or no budget. --Matt Ross Ephrata School District [1] I consider this list and the old NTSysAdmin list that Sunbelt hosted the same. [2] One could argue the same for non-open source but free-as-in-beer solutions. I'm good with those types of solutions too, but sometimes free turns into not-free and we keep that in mind. Open source software does not have this problem. ----- Original Message ----- From: Kurt Buff [mailto:[email protected]] To: [email protected] Sent: Mon, 28 Oct 2013 15:14:32 -0800 Subject: Re: [NTSysADM] NAS SMB server (QNAP?) > I wasn't going to go there, because I've been in the same boat. > Management is often shy Open Source stuff. I don't know what it is, > but I've seen it enough to know that opening up for Open Source is not > something management does very often, or willingly. > > It's a shame, really, as it does several things, simultaneously, in > the right environment > > o- a good tool for the job, at the right price > o- staff gets to learn new stuff at a low cost, which is satisfying > for the staff > o- you don't really know one operating system until you know a second > operating system - IMHO. > > Kurt > > On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 3:00 PM, Sean Martin <[email protected]> wrote: > > Perhaps your minions don't have the necessary experience because they > > haven't been given the opportunity. Sounds like your initial gut decision > to > > go with a home grown solution would provide more than one benefit. > > > > - Sean > > > > > > On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 4:11 PM, Kurt Buff <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > Heck, if you want, they'll even sell you a commercial appliance that > >> > does the same thing, and the pricing isn't unreasonable.. > >> > > >> > > http://www.ixsystems.com/storage/ix/home-office-storage/freenas-mini.html > >> > >> Doesn't look like a rack-mount form-factor to me...? > >> > >> -- Ben > >> > >> > > > > >
