Hello everyone! I've heard from a friend in Equitable PCI Bank that their central software division is currently undertaking a study to base their future IT infrastructure on (gulp!) Windows 2000 Server. I would like to know if anybody heard about this initiative from your friends at EPCIB.
I do not have a bank account at EPCIB, nor do I endorse this banking institution. I just want to discuss the ramifications on this agenda and how the PLUG can contribute in keeping the financial stability of our poor country in a small but significant way. Banking institutions like EPCIB and other large banks are considered pillars of our economy. I somehow chill at the thought of them running their mission-critical banking infrastructure on Windows technology. The end result could be frequent downtimes, virii, cracker attacks, lost productivity, corrupted financial records. We haven't even mentioned the expensive licenses and costs for procuring them. The problems are endless and compounding. Can we endure to let these big banks run Microsoft technology? Can we trust them to take care of our money using flimsy technological platforms? Can we trust our money on an operating system that has embedded spyware as its standard installation? Will it be possible for the PLUG ORG to brief the IT centers of these banks on the advantages of free/open source software? It will help tremendously if they can run Linux and open-source databases instead of running Windows. If we are confident that their infrastructure runs on robust software, then the general public and the local investment sector can benefit from this increase in trust. I don't know if that's too much to ask for the PLUG ORG, but I feel it can be a patriotic endeavor in a small way with far-reaching results. It can also get more publicity for the PLUG and more visibility for Linux and other free/open source software in a crucial sector of our economy -- the banking sector. The banking sector upholds trust as its highest ideal. Can PLUG ORG help? -- mikol P.S. I'd love to help in this initiative, but I'm too far out at the southernmost part of Mindanao, where everyone is more concerned with basic survival skills, hoping that our water system will not get poisoned, our power transmission lines untouched, our children protected from possible bomb blasts. Now that we have a suspected victim of SARS quarantined in Davao (she came from Singapore), this doubles my paranoia even more. _ Philippine Linux Users Group. Web site and archives at http://plug.linux.org.ph To leave: send "unsubscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fully Searchable Archives With Friendly Web Interface at http://marc.free.net.ph To subscribe to the Linux Newbies' List: send "subscribe" in the body to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
