Thanks to all for your valuable feedback. I should of made myself a little more clearer. The boss is looking to offer it as a OS with the Desktops we sell. So its more a pitch to show its a viable option for our customers. None the less, the info I this thread is very useful.
I have just customised my own laptop (running Kubuntu) with our companies branding and got a companies laptop here that I have just put on Feisty with Gnome and customised it the same. Today I have to install 1x Ubuntu and 1x Kubuntu systems in our lunch room, replacing 2 of the 5 Windows PC's. The boss wanted all 5 replaced but the IT Team protested, rightly, mentioning that people use our ERP software that, I have since found with some searching, doesn't have a Linux client but they have developed a Java client that runs on Linux. BUT.. you need ver 12 and we run ver 11...d0h! Its called MOVEX by the way. So for the Sales staff tomorrow monring I am thinking this approach (haven't got a reply back from the boss yet where I asked if he wants a quick 5 mins "here it is" or a 30 min presentation): 1. What is Linux? (going to ask what OS's people are aware of, expecting Win and Mac. Will mention the wide variety of OS's out there) 2. What does it offer the reg user. (Showing OOo, Email clients, browsers, multimedia apps etc) 3. What does it offer the Power user. (Thinking of throwing this in. Showing GNU/Linux systems ability to be totally over hauled if the user wants to. Might help sales staff who have tech savyy customers) 4. What doesn't it offer the user. (Gaming support being limited to Cedega and the Codec legal issue's) 5. Onlione support. (Mention users have access to forums, wiki's etc and also mention Ubuntu's shipit too.) Am I on track do you think ? Actually having a time getting my Z61t Thinkpad using a small, non-widescreen res, for the external VGA. Currently the edges miss causes its a widescreen laptop.) On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 07:40:07PM +1000, Russell Davie wrote: > On Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:30:45 +1000 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (David Ward) wrote: > > > Hi all, > > > > The company I have been working at now (for a bit over 6 mths now) is a > > largish (~$150Mil/year) national IT company deal in everything from > > Hardware, Software and services. But...very Windows centric much to my > > disappointment. > > > > Needless to say word has spread in the Office I am "..the Linux guy" > > > > The Owner of the company has gave Linux thought and some how was tipped > > over the edge recently and called a meeting with a few key staff members > > hers and ..... me. > > > > So I am now doing a demo of Ubuntu in the Friday morning sales meeting! > > > > > > Any tips or points for catching the attention of mostly IT 'dumb' ales > > staff ? I am thinking Beryl/Compiz, the mention of no spyware and > > viruses and the backing of big name companies like Dell, IBM and Novell. > > > > Any advice welcome; really want to do the best for Linux and open source > > here and get it into this company. > > > > Thanks > >- > > Regards > > David > > > oooh, what fun! > For a sales meeting presentation for Linux, then use a sales approach! > > Slides demonstrating features and showing benefits of the feature. This is > to show the *value* of the feature. > eg feature may be Open Source, benefit is ........ > feature is ext3 file system, benefit is ..... > ....suggestions for features / benefits please! > > Have a slide that benchmarks the two systems. > ie make a table having columns with each choice (OS in this case) and rows > describing qualities such as: > Licence Fees ($) > IT maintenance (hrs?) > Downtime for installing new software (reboots, hrs?) > Security (virii, permissions..?) > Support (open vs closed source...) > User base (web servers, Google...) > Hardware requirements (older hardware...vs expensive new box to run vista) > ...more suggestions of a benchmarking qualities, please! .... > > If each category can be expressed in $ or person-hrs then you have magic > Total Cost of Ownership ! > > Be prepared for objections, which are really inquires for more information. > eg: the code is public domain, so it can be cracked and is insecure.... > answer: so your concern is security?....explain Open Source model, use Apache > as example of success. > eg: so many distros, not just one distributor... > answer: so your concern is ....? (what is the real objection? usually > security) > eg: it can't do the same as such-and-such software....eg desktop publisher > software .... > answer: what do you use this softw for? ....find appropriate soln or can use > wine or a virtual machine. > ...more suggestions of possible objection/solutions please!..... > > Then close by putting it back to them to make a decision: > what else is needed? > when? > thoughts on a trial? > how big? > how long? > how to measure outcomes? > criteria for success? > ..more suggestions for closing, please!... > > - R > > > -- > Please, if possible, don't send me MS Word or Powerpoint attachments. > Send plain text, rich text format, html, or pdf instead. > Why? See: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/sylvester-response.html > -- > SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ > Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html -- -------------- Regards David -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
