Live Blogging at ISTE: 10 Common Pitfalls on the Road to Open Source
There has been a ton of buzz so far among the Linux folks about Revolution Linux, a company that does a work on making Linux an option for the enterprise.
I will take notes here, and make my stunningly insightful commentary will be shouted in CAPITAL LETTERS. Aren’t you excited?
We are hearing from the CEO of Revolution Linux today.
(Note: I am not new to Linux and, in fact, prefer it to a number of platforms. I have heard a couple of people argue this week that Mac users have an easy transition back and forth to the Linux… perhaps from the whole “think different” thing.)
The crowd is half IT and half teachers, with a couple of rogue administers sprinkled for spice.
10 Common Pitfalls on the Road to Open Source:
1.) Technical interests superceding user interests:
- IT adopts, had a beautiful setup, but it isn’t really adopted in a way that is user friendly.
- Users need to be part of the discussion at a level that doesn’t necessarily involve the security or hardened nature of the project. Technical interests shouldn’t be the key discussion point.
2.) Lack of user input.
- Need to have user input to give users space to develop skills and express needs.
3.) Training Issues
- Free doesn’t mean free… (free speech vs. free beer). This is specifically important in training; which might be something that needs substantial investment.
(WOW… people are jumping out of this session… I think this might be a bit much for the masses.)
4.) Individual needs vs. organization needs
- Inappropriate focus on one or the others can create implementation issues.
5.) Changing software and versions too often
- This can be frustrating for novice and end users. Changes can be disruptive.
(THIS IS INTERESTING… I always end up installing the latest and greatest when I use Ubuntu, for example, but I suppose this can be frustrating to end users. I wonder if one option would be to adopt the LTS releases of Ubuntu and only update when those update every three years? Interesting stuff.)
6.) Interoperability between systems
- I am not sure of the speaker’s point here… do we WANT the same or NOT want the same? I would argue that this is a power of open source: wouldn’t it be nice if we had a set of 20-30 tools that were available on Linux, Mac and Windows?
7.) Lack of local support
- Support is critical locally.
(THIS IS JUST AS TRUE IN A PC/MAC environment, even though some perceive these environments as “easier.” I have seen a number of districts hand machine to users w/o support and then complain that small problems seem to deter the users.)
8.) Buying a product, without giving the same kind of support as you usually do.
- See training, among other issues, above.
- Just because a resource is free doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t receive support.
9.) Ignoring user interfaces.
10.) Going for Open Source because it is free.
(I AM GOING TO RESPECTFULLY DISAGREE here: I have extended thoughts here related to Moodle, in particular, but, in reality, the cost IS an important factor, even if you factor in support and training.
This session was at a 10,000 foot level. The bottom line for me is that these are becoming dated arguments. Perhaps we need to reframe the open source debate?
