[ILUG] FOSS start-up

[Michael Jonker]

Hi,

I am seeking collaboration, partners and moral support for my FOSS 
business start-up, OpenPoint
http://openpoint.ie

It is targeted at Small to Medium Businesses in Ireland and it's logic 
runs as follows:

'Provide a comprehensive, easy to engage with, single point of IT 
service for SMB's interested in using FOSS'

I do not want to re-invent the wheel. There are already many individuals 
and IT businesses providing FOSS services in Ireland. For business 
managers however this is not always the safest scenario. They can 
encounter too much choice between vendors and diversity of products on 
offer. They may feel safer going down the 'Microsoft Certified' route in 
the knowledge that many different certified vendors can support one 
product family into the future.

OpenPoint addresses this barrier to adoption in the following ways:

-By building a community based delivery network of IT professionals 
across Ireland
-By agreeing a common set of technologies and products and making the 
documentation of these easy and accessible
-By being an identifiable brand for FOSS IT project management, thus 
building public trust.

Openpoint is just starting out - so nothing is set in stone. I am 
looking for a core of people who can see the potential in the business 
model to get involved in whichever way they can to kick-start it's growth.

*_A little bit about myself:_*

Name: Michael Jonker
Age: 38
Location: Limerick

I qualified in 1997 as an architect (the building kind!)
Since the economic downturn I have turned my full attention to my FOSS 
interests - so I am no guru. I understand the logic of systems, the 
importance of the humans which operate within them and how to manage 
projects.