Which Would You Rather Have Working for You? Open Source Offerings at the Ohio Linuxfest.

Columbus, OH, September 10, 2009 --(PR.com)-- An IT Manager for a small company needed to upgrade the email server. The company was considering purchasing licenses for a commercial email server and for each email client which would cost about $15000. The IT Manager recommended free and open source software for the email upgrade which would not cost the company any licensing fees but it would take additional time to make the transition. With the commercial solution, the company would not only pay the $15000 initial project costs, but they would have to pay additional license fees for hiring more people in addition to yearly maintenance. The company CTO decided that brand loyalty to the proprietary email solution was most important. Instead of taking the IT Manager's recommendation to deploy the free and open source solution, the CTO gave the IT Manager the pink slip. In the short term it looked like a good solution to the company with the salary savings, they were able to pay for the proprietary licensing costs yet the company had locked themselves into a long term expense.

This is a true story. Investing in people instead of software licenses makes the most fiscal sense in a recession. IT managers and the system administrators employed by companies who invest in them are loyal, empowered, and available to respond to the occasional business crisis.

Commercial software can only promise the level of support purchased as part of the license. Professional system administrators who are trained to support free and open source solutions bring their own expertise to your organization. Which would you rather have working for you?

Training for system administrators in free and open source solutions is not expensive. The Ohio LinuxFest, a non-profit 501c(3) conference of Columbus Ohio is one great example. For only $350, system administrators can receive two days of system administrator training in free and open source solutions on Friday September 25 through Saturday the 26th. Some small companies can not afford to be without their only IT support person for even one business day. This is why the Ohio LinuxFest offers free admission to all of the sessions on Saturday September 26. Professionals of all fields of endeavor and students are welcome to learn what free and open source can do for them.

Keynoting at the Ohio LinuxFest on the 26 will be Mr. Shawn Powers, editor of Linux Journal. In his keynote “Saving the Economy with Linux” he will share how he integrated free and open source solutions as the Technology Director for a school district in northern Michigan. Not only does free and open source software safe the taxpayer money, it is an investment in the people and the community.

More information on the Ohio LinuxFest can be found at the website
http://www.ohiolinux.org

Press inquiries should be directed to Mr. Robert Ball at 1-888-645-4689 ext 502 or rball@ohiolinux.org.

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