Migration Patterns

In reference to Paul Rolichs article, Kicking Them When Theyre Down, (November 2001): It is true that every company has to evaluate its relative costs and rewards in moving to open-source platforms. Such evaluation may take a few weeks to several months, depending on the size and complexity of a companys state of operations and technology.

However, it is dangerous to stick to something just because it is familiar, when better alternatives are available. Rolich hopes that over time, all the hackers will have improved the Windows operating system. This approach is already perfected to a science in the open-source community.

Incremental approaches to migration are available and must be pursued by companies that want to get the most bang for their technology buck. Companies must have at least a small, but intense and well-designed evaluation program for migration to open-source platforms where appropriate. There is no need to buy expensive Sun servers right away; they can run Apache or Chilisoft on Linux boxes or even on Windows servers, sans IIS. At about $600 per server, it is worth starting an evaluation program.

V. RAO BHAMIDIPATI
PRINCIPAL, INFOVATION

Judgement Calls

Regarding Mark OBriens The Medium Is Not the Message, (February): He is correct in his main argument that there needs to be an implementation strategy before training is developed, and a separate accountability measurement after the training is delivered. One frustration of being in training is that companies have little patience to either plan or measureits just give us something called training so we can check that off our compliance list.

I question his statements that the training results should be the same for both the paper version and the high-tech wonder, and that technology does not distinguish between theory and practice. The benefit of the high-tech wonder is that it can distinguish between theory and practiceand deliver the practice in interactive scenarios, so that students can live the experience. Interactive learning follows up theory with case studies in which information is not fed through the experts filter. Instead, it comes in life-like dribs and drabs that the learner must sort through, evaluate, and act on.

RICHARD BIRCH
DIRECTOR, ARGOSY INTERACTIVE

Mark OBrien responds:

Mr. Birch is right to suggest that technology-based training can deliver a degree of interactivity of which printed manuals arent capable. However, to suggest that technology can distinguish between theory and practice is to grant it an IQ that artificial intelligence doesnt possess. At the risk of splitting hairs, I think the distinction he cites is not between theory and practice but between theoretical approaches and programmable outcomes.

Correction and Clarifications

In our February Tech Update section, we gave the incorrect URL for Sirius Financial (formerly Policy Master). The correct address is www.sirius-inc.com. (The address we ran belongs to a different Sirius Financial.)

In our January issue, we listed the Web site for London-based Room Solutions as www.roomsolutions.com. The correct address is www.roomsolutions.net.

We regret the errors.

Getting in Touch

Send your letters to the editor to [email protected], and comments, questions, and other correspondence to [email protected] or to:

Editor, Technology Decisions,
The National Underwriter Company
5081 Olympic Blvd., Erlanger, KY 41018

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