Corporate Environment section?

[bazzer]

Hi
Don't know if this is a popular idea or not, but it seems to me that the forum doesn't have a section for people to post things about Ubuntu in a corporate environment.

Certain things have interested me in my 'Ubuntu journey', such as converting the management to Ubuntu ideas, mass installs over the network, central management of the clients and so on. All this can be / has been discussed already in various sections and hence it's searchable, but to be brutally honest, the search function sucks! Alas I digress....

Comments?

[p_quarles]

Moved to Feedback & Help.

The kinds of tasks you describe as belonging to the proposed sub-section are better done with paid support.

[bazzer]

Paid support? Hmmm. Sorry I don't get it. The idea that you don't have to pay for knowledge is one of the reasons I'm on the Linux side of the fence now. I appreciate there are paid for support options for Suse and Redhat, but that's not what I'm asking for. Surely there are some people in the same boat as me (working for a smallish company and trying to drag them into using Ubuntu throughout the organisation) who would like to share experiences and methods without resorting to paying.

[popch]

The kinds of tasks you describe as belonging to the proposed sub-section are better done with paid support.

We have staff who perform this kind of tasks for Windows. Surely, staff can be trained or found to do so for Linux?

The question is a bit on the academic side for me, as I do not envision our management switching from Windows to Linux in the foreseeable future. Still, I would be interested to learn about people's experiences with those issues.

[p_quarles]

Paid support? Hmmm. Sorry I don't get it. The idea that you don't have to pay for knowledge is one of the reasons I'm on the Linux side of the fence now. I appreciate there are paid for support options for Suse and Redhat, but that's not what I'm asking for. Surely there are some people in the same boat as me (working for a smallish company and trying to drag them into using Ubuntu throughout the organisation) who would like to share experiences and methods without resorting to paying.

Support is not knowledge -- it is a service. Also, Ubuntu as well offers paid support for both home and corporate users.

I see what you are asking for is actually something more like a "Small Business Users" section. "Corporate Environment" suggests something on a larger scale to my mind. This has actually come up before, and the admins rejected the idea, I believe. The reasoning I recall was that the current topic schema is based around uses (server software, media software, etc.) rather than use cases (business, home, school, etc.).

[matthew]

Hi
Don't know if this is a popular idea or not, but it seems to me that the forum doesn't have a section for people to post things about Ubuntu in a corporate environment.

Certain things have interested me in my 'Ubuntu journey', such as converting the management to Ubuntu ideas, mass installs over the network, central management of the clients and so on. All this can be / has been discussed already in various sections and hence it's searchable, but to be brutally honest, the search function sucks! Alas I digress....

Comments?

Actually, this doesn't sound completely like what p_quarles interpreted it to mean. I don't think this is solely a tech support issue as it could include a "hey, how do we use/interact/encourage Ubuntu use in a professional environment." Am I interpreting that correctly?

If so, I think the idea has potential. As Ubuntu expands more into the server market, and is gaining in the corporate desktop market, it might be nice to have a place to direct threads on these topics. Yes, paid support would be something a large corporate environment would want, but for questions like mentioned in the original post, this could be a good addition.

[bazzer]

Bang on the money there Matthew! I seem to manage to find the answers I need eventually in respect to technical support, but as you've said, there's no 'encouragement' for this 'use case' (and obviously I do tip my head to that description).

[sloggerkhan]

Jeez, if business users want a subforum to jabber with each other in, why not?
The whole 'pay for support' thing is kinda dismissive and not very friendly, IMO.
And personally, I like the idea of having 'use case' subforums for small business and education.
IMO, even if they aren't the best place to ask for help, they could be a familiar invitation for those who come here from those backgrounds.

[matthew]

Okay. We have a Forum Council meeting coming up in a couple of days. I'll add this to the agenda and discuss it with the other members.

[Forrest Gumpp]

There could be a distinct side benefit of such a sub-forum for many members.

When the age distribution of members is taken into account, it is apparent that many are in the age bracket covering the student years. As a consequence, many of these members, although perhaps extremely advanced in their IT skills, may have had little exposure to the commercial or corporate aspects of IT.

Such a sub-forum, on the assumption that there are significant numbers of corporate or small business participants, would provide an excellent real-world training and work-experience opportunity for that part of the demographic shortly to enter the workforce.

Please don't pass it up.