Welcome to the shop
So. What's the motivation here, you ask?
The short answer is: Because I think the world needs a journal, or a journalistic space (whatever this is) that approaches the IT marketplace from from a different angle: from the demand rather than the supply side.
I think the IT conversation needs more voices from the trenches where "solutions" are put to work. I know those voices are very different than those of vendors selling those solutions. In fact, many of those demand-side voices come from inside vendors organizations. And they are usually very different than their employers' marketing voices.
It's my job, as (essentially) as the business editor for Linux Journal, to hear those voices and write about what they say. In the last year, manyh of those voices, usually insisting on anonymity, have about clobbered me over the head with news about what's actually happening in IT. Here's what they're saying in a nutshell:
The customer finally has full power in the IT marketplace. Vendors are doing great stuff, sure; but they're not running the whole show any more. Customers are solving more and more of their own problems, both with and without vendor assistance. But almost nobody is talking about it.
So we get to do that here. Let's enlarge the IT conversation to include everybody who's doing constructive work. PR and advertising can't tell us about that stuff, unless they paint a gloss over it.
As with the work we do for ourselves in IT, so goes the work we do for ourselves when we talk about it.
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IT Garage now in Chinese characters
Hi Doc,
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that all of your posts dated 18 October appear in my RSS feeder and browser in Chinese characters! Previous posts (17 October and earlier) are in English.
I live in China, so I'm guessing that some new feature in the software takes this as persuasive evidence that I can read Chinese, which is flattering but untrue.
Any way to fix this?
Cheers,
Eric
Eric T. MacKnight
Teaching, reading, and more—great ideas for students and teachers:
www.EricMacKnight.com/
The Good Habits Blog:
www.goodhabitsgoodstudents.com/blog
Only some customers are willing to take power
The industry I work in, is hobbled by a limited number of vendors.
This causes problems if your firm is risk-averse, and wants somebody to sue if the company has problems that impair its operations.
Add Author to rss feed?
I couldn't find any other way to submit site feedback so here goes... could the author of an entry be added to the rss feed for IT Garage? Currently there's no indication of who wrote an entry in the site xml file (itgarage.com/rss.xml). I don't know drupal's template language but what needs to be added is an
nice aticle
You are right.
טיסות
My biggest hold up with
My biggest hold up with converting my shop to Linux is the need for a small business accounting/customer relations package.
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Mike
good idea Sir
hei
Digger voss!!vort der masse de siste arene,foler meg hjemme:)
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Please fix yout RSS feed
The title shows as " Doc Searls' IT Garage".
Thanks
Please fix yout RSS feed
Done...
The upgrade of Drupal is showing up a lot of problems like this. If you see anymore please tell us.
LexUs
2 hints
Studip spammer >:-((
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Linux Accounting software
If you're interested in Linux acccounting software, check out this link:
www.aaxnet.com/design/linuxacct.html
A nice list for sure, but I don't have the time either to research everyone.
Kevin
And another site....
you can find other accounting packages here:
www.findaccountingsoftware.com/
HTH
Kevin
kevincu@orci.com
hey..
i just want to ask u guys.. if it is possible to help me.. i`m an romanian.. an it`s my first time on linux.. and i`m kinda bored.. isn`t there a winamp or something??? :( and if it is.. and u have it.. pls send it to me on crazy_bastard_05@yahoo.com.. or post.. :) thank u for the understanding.. :)
blog spam & GUI Conference
Doc--
did you notice that your very top-level post has been blog-spammed (or whatever they call the practice)?
Anyway, I'm very interested in the DIY approach. I'm an online student in MIS via Dakota State Univ., & all their coursework is Win-centric. I'm interested in learning Linux programming, especially GUI for X.org, KDE, or Gnome (to contrast the .Net stuff I have to keep studying), but precious few resources exist. Even some of the Linux Desktop conferences over the last 2 years don't seem to be doing anything in 2005 (referring to your Event Horizon post of 6/22/04), and Linux programming books (for KDevelop, for example) seem to be in very short supply or very outdated. I'd like to start an intro Linux GUI development workshop/conference in Minneapolis, and, among other things, will be looking for sponsors and speakers/workshop presenters. What do you think of the idea? I'm tired of programming for a monopolistic monolithic OS that I hate, & would much rather learn how to do great stuff w/Linux.
Linux and the work place.
My biggest hold up with converting my shop to Linux is the need for a small business accounting/customer relations package.
We are using QuickBooks Pro on a WinXP/2003 network, that is, we will be using the Win2003SBS if I can ever get it to play nice with the XP Pro boxes.
All the rest is a no-brainer, Evolution can handle the Outlook chores, Star Office or Open Office can handle everything else. GNU Cash Might be able to handle the bookeeping chores, but I haven't really had the time to test it out.
So, I don't have any problem with Linux. I do have a problem with the program developers. And, since I am certainly not a programmer my self, I have to wait for others to take care of that.
Thanks for The Linux Show this evening and I will have this site bookmarked for future refference.
Linux Accounting s/w
This is a toughie. I run a UK based windows accounting software house with about 30,000 clients. Our business survives on maintenance and licence revenues from a large 100% windows user base, we run at 110mph just to keep on top of our customer expectations and ahead of our competitors. In this context, developing a linux platform app in our space feels too much like a luxury R&D project.
If we had only a few customers to support and maintain, then the economic equation would better support an investment in a new platform, however most accounting software purchasers tend to be traditionalists, prudent, and often look for recommendations from lots of other customers about reliability and solidity which is tougher when you're off the beaten track with a handful of customers.
As a windows guy with a a soft spot for Linux, if someone could solve this equation I'd be all ears.
Have you looked at the Open Source Alternatives?
SQL Ledger and ARIA provide open source accounting systems, and XRMS seems to be a full featured CRM system.
I must admit that I do my books on Quickbooks Pro, but it actually resides on my wife's XP Pro system that I access using a remote desktop connection from my linux workstation.
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