[Novalug] FOSE - thoughts continued

[Jay Hart]

You certainly gave us your 247 lbs worth on this reply.

Thanks,

Jay

> On Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Roger W. Broseus <RogerB at bronord.com> wrote:
>> . . . whoops: I accidentlly hit the "enter" key and sent an incomplete
>> message (fetilizer!).
>>
>> . . . A VERY GOOD QUESTION was asked at Saturday's NOVALUG meeting: what
>> are the needs of "the government." A corrolary for me would be: what
>> solutions have been successful. And I think about this with a LINUX bias.
>>
>> This is where people like Pete might weigh-in.
>
> At about 247 lbs, last time I checked.  :-)
>
>> My memory tells me about Linux being heavily used in technical /
>> programing / scientific applications as well as in very secure places,
>> e.g., SE linux - NSA and NIST. I don't know but guess there's some servers
>> out there too.
>
> Lots of infrastructure.  Real examples (without naming agencies):
> * remote office infrastructure support:  Xen dom0 with domUs running
> DNS, DHCP, LDAP, CUPS and proxy.  This is running on an enterprise
> distro, not community-supported.
> * multi-node dom0 running processor-intensive applications like SAS on
> clustered file systems
> * Oracle RAC
>
> Go to the Red Hat Government Users and Developers Conference tomorrow
> at the Reagan Building.  The Xen architect from NOAA will be speaking
> in the afternoon.  Good mix of server and workstation workloads there.
>  Wish I could go but billable consulting time comes first ;-)
>
> I think Novell might also have an event in Bethesda coming up.
>
>> I believe that the fed gov is a reflection of society (remember: it's of,
>> by, and for "the people"). So, the same "barriers" exist there as
>> elsewhere for "desktop" applications, combined with governmental inertial:
>> when a solution is found that works, the saying goes, don't fix it unless
>> it's broken [added thought: even if it is broken]. Change comes slowly.
>> Gov procurement systems are stuck in ruts and users are too.
>
> Change comes slowly from a desktop perspective, but there have been
> UNIX-to-Linux server migrations happening all over town for years and
> the hardware guys are still making a lot of $$$ from commodity hw and
> blades.  Server admin and architecture is where the money is.
>
>> Then there is the reality of what really works in Linux-based systems? Can
>> one synch one's black berry or Palm-bases PDA/smart phone to email
>> applications and the like? Can documents and presentations easily shared?
>> It's hard to overcome the inertia caused by "save as" e.g. an MS Word
>> document.
>
> First:  Many agencies are locking against external USB storage devices
> and PDAs.  Where I work, you aren't even allowed to mount a CD-ROM.
> This is on Windows-based endpoints.
>
> Second: Blackberry has a near-lock on the Fed market, and those all
> sync over the air, anyway.
>
> Third: I had a cabinet-level customer tell me over a year ago that
> their desktop hw vendor of choice would give them any OS they wanted
> for $70/seat, so why should they dump windows for /any/ end-user
> segment?
>
> While there /is/ a lot of VDI buzz around town, VMware owns that
> business in a huge way and will continue to do so for Windows-based
> shops.  However, it is precisely in the VDI space where a Linux
> desktop can make headway, because you've removed the usual barriers to
> entry.
>
> I'm trying to get up to speed on:
> * VMware VDI / VMware View
> * Red Hat's acquisition of Qumranet aka "Red Hat Israel" for a VDI
> solution based on FLOSS;
> * Novell's joint announcement with Wyse;
> * Trusted Computer Systems' endpoint offerings
>
>> So, who is likely to be influenced by TUX / NOVALUG / volunteers? Firstly,
>> not many gov workers for the work environment. They must be inter-operable
>> and there's a big barrier there. If it's the scientific / server types,
>> maybe we are speaking to the choir? I believ we are still in the revival
>> tent stage. Reach out and touch those who are most likely to be accepting:
>> small groups that are flexible: small gov agencies? Non-profits (what are
>> they doing at FedOSE?). Educational institutions. This is a tough nut to
>> crack.
>
> In addition, every year we have to deliver a value prop to the people
> donating space and electricity on why we should be there, and I think
> the answers to both questions have a lot in common.  To that end, I
> think the vendor-neutral story will always need to be told.  I think
> we need to keep talking about open standards.  By now, I think anybody
> who has worked the FOSE booth in the last ten years knows how to do
> those things.
>
> Ideas for 2009:
> * more conversations about infrastructure and middleware, less about desktop
> * more conversations about what the EU /is/ doing with FLOSS and open
> standards in government, less about what the US is /not/ doing
> * more questions about what the attendees are trying to do
>
> I haven't been to FOSE in a couple of years so I'm not sure whether
> any of these things have been happening.
>
> Pete
>
>> Formal Presentation: Thinking outside of the box: "LINUX Solutions That
>> Work Government." A speach in a hall just like the "big guys," given by
>> someone who experiences / knows where Linux solutions have been used
>> sucessfully and where there is potential for them. It might be a big
>> hurdle to overcome - to get space in a meeting room. $$ might be involved.
>> Ideally, this would not be a presentation by a for-profit / vendor but
>> given by a passionate Linux professional.
>>
>> Last year's problems: we ran out of distros to give away. Ubuntu has been
>> a real hit. Electricity: the power was dropped so no demo after the
>> batteries died.
>>
>> That's my few thoughts / $ 0.02 worth.
>>
>> /Roger
>> --
>> Roger Broseus
>>   RogerB at bronord.com
>>   www.bronord.com
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> /pete nuwayser/
> $LASTNAME gmail com
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