[olug] Real opportunity for getting Open Source into the Enterprise

[bbrush at unlnotes.unl.edu]

Hi.

First let me apologize for the cross-post, but I didn't want to miss
anyone.

During a meeting today I identified a real life opportunity for the Open
Source community so I'm putting the word out for all you programmers and
developers.  I'm neither so I'm not really going to be contributing much.

First allow me to introduce myself as I don't post much.  My name is Bill
Brush and I'm a Network Engineer for NET (Nebraska Educational
Telecommunications).  I mainly do Lotus Notes
administration/support/development and Novell Netware administration, with
other duties "as assigned".  I don't do a lot with Linux, and I'd say my
skill is at the "competent/power user" level.  I can get it installed and
working but I can't devote a lot of time to tweaking it to get it to do
what I want so if it doesn't do what I need it to right off the bat, well
then it's back to "tinker" status.  So far I haven't found a distribution
that does everything that I need it to (Lycoris has come damn close
though).

Anyway NET's mission is public television/public radio and distance
learning for schools.  A small part of this is "Pledge" which almost
everyone has seen or heard of.  In short NETV (the television segment of
NET) puts specials on the air and asks the viewers to donate money.  Those
who do become "members".

Now almost every public television station has a membership system (which
keeps track of the members, and their status).  This is where the
opportunity comes in.  The offerings for a membership system are EXTREMELY
limited.  The one that NET is currently using is antiquated and the company
has said they are going to quit supporting it (I think it's a Win16 app).
The current apps are almost universally Oracle based which means big $$$.
Since only a very small portion of the public televsion departments can
afford that we are left with a large, growing pool of cash-strapped
stations with membership systems on life support and no real affordable
alternatives out there.  If a motivated group of developers were to band
together and create a membership system that uses Linux on it's back-end
and both Windows and Linux clients as an Open source project it would make
an almost sure bet to be adopted widely in a number of enterprises.

Now for the disclaimer.  This is not an official NET project and as such
NET can not officially donate any resources.  Unofficially I can help pin
down what functionality is in the current system and requirements for
future systems.  I might even be able to get one of our resident
Linux-heads to contributing.  For myself my involvment would be pretty
peripheral simply due to time and work constraints.  I can get the map and
directions, but I can't drive the bus, nor can I ride it very far.

If anyone wants a project that has the potential for wide-spread adoption
and real-life application, this looks like a prime opportunity.

Let me know if anyone is interested.

Bill
Nebraska Educational Telecommunications
CNA - Netware 6
402-472-9333 ext 589

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre minds. The
latter cannot understand it when a [person] does not thoughtlessly submit
to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses their
intelligence.
--Albert Einstein