[ILUG] Interesting article

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Braun Brelin (bbrelin at openapp.biz):

> The other problem that we at OpenApp see with Linux deployments is
> that the person in charge of doing this will operate the Linux systems
> as a black box and nobody else knows what's going on.  This leads to
> problems if/when the person leaves.

What's the downside?  The Linux box will probably do its job without
admin interference^Wassistance until doomsday or hard drive failure,
whichever comes first.  If the new guy is smart enough to leave the box
the hell alone (other than following the "To add accounts, To remove
accounts, To change passwords" sheets his predecessor left in the
operations binder), then the firm's no worse off, and can always blow a
small fortune on an MS-Windows-based replacement _later_, if it ever
thinks it needs to.  Meanwhile, that expense has been deferred.

> We've seen sites where people rip out their Linux and go
> back to MS because the person in question left, their replacement couldn't
> spell Linux, much less be able to administer it and thus, presto, MS wins
> again.

Ah, the predecessor forgot to create that "Administration for Dummies"
binder.  There's your problem.

> It's important, especially if the company is a fairly small one, that
> whoever manages the Linux/OSS installation do a couple of things:
> 
> 1.  Document what they've done.
> 2.  Cross-train other IT employees

Everyone gives lip service to "training", but, at companies where it
occurs at all, it's often little more than a ritual exercise for people
who refuse to read documentation.  Try holding a brief quiz of employees
on the subject matter before and after they attend "training", and I'll
bet that the same people do well both before and after, and likewise the
people who did poorly before do about the same after.  

For a lot of employees, "training" is a mini-vacation from their
desks, and the clearing of a mental obstacle they erect against using
something new:  They don't _actually_ understand the thing significantly
better than before, but no longer have any excuse for refusing to use
it, because they (and their managers) know they've been "trained".