[TriLUG] demoing F/OSS innovation(s)

[rwshep2000.2725323 at bloglines.com]

I personally would be excited to see a general demonstration of how a mom
& pop business could be run purely on Linux.  Even if it means including custom
code. I don't mean email and OpenOffice.  I mean, an integrated enterprise
solution.  Does anyone in the group do this kind of work?

Maybe:

Core
Accounting Software (Sql Ledger? GnuCash?)
Point-of-Sale
Customer Relationship
Management
Time and Materials Data Collection
Project Planning and Tracking

Inventory
UPS / FedEx Shipping Tools

You know, the rudimentary sorts
of problems you face in small businesses, and don't have the money to spend
on big closed-source solutions.

Maybe this isn't sexy, but I personally
would love to see it.  I struggle with how to do these things with F/OSS.


Bob Shepherd

--- Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list <trilug at trilug.org
wrote:
For a while now, I've felt the need to suggest we do
> something
to showcase innovation from the F/OSS world.
> This is only a kind vague
idea at the moment, so bear
> with me if this doesn't seem to make sense.

> 
> First of all, there is always a lot of talk from
> detractors of F/OSS
that all free / open source
> software just copies (poorly) commercial software.

> They'll usually use something like OpenOffice.org as
> an "example" and
say that it's just a poor clone of
> MS Office.
> 
> Second, does anybody
remember the Lulu Tech Circus
> a few years ago? And specifically, do you
recall
> Bob Young's comments at the Tri-LUG meeting later?
> He said something
(I can't quote exactly, because
> I wasn't there, but I got the gist of it
from
> later discussion) to the effect that he was disappointed
> in the
User's Groups who were present, and that they
> didn't do anything "exciting"
enough. Er, something roughly
> like that.
> 
> Anyway, I was thinking
that it would be great if we
> could do a show / demo / event of some sort,
where we
> A. show off some of the innovative stuff from the F/OSS world

> and
> B. try to put together some real "whiz bang" demos of the
> technology.
 Something with a real "wow" factor. IOW, something
> more than just a box
sitting around running Linux and OpenOffice.
> 
> Possibly something like
this could either replace one event
> that would normally be an installfest?
Or maybe it could
> be done in conjunction with an installfest? Or I guess
it
> could just stand alone (if there's any interest in doing anything
>
at all).
> 
> Anyway, to seed the discussion, let me pose the question:
What are
> some areas where F/OSS *is* innovative, compared to proprietary

> software? Or at least, what are some areas where it's better as
> opposed
to just being a clone? What are some things that can be
> done with F/OSS
which can't (or at least not easily) be done with
> proprietary software?
Oh, and let me add that I'm thinking in terms
> of things you can *show*
people.  So while the Linux kernel may have
> lots of advantages over, say
WinXP, most of those advantages are not
> easy to demonstrate (at least I
don't think they are. Somebody please
> prove me wrong).
> 
> 
> TTYL,

> 
> Phil
> -- 
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