[Tfug] Open Source solutions

[Eric G]

I know this might not be the place for it (hey it's free unix  
evangelism, right?) but what the hell.

Does anyone who is subscribed to this list feel that the time is right  
(or is about to be right) to try and get an open source-based network  
consulting company off the ground?

I think that especially with Vista and Office 2007 people are tired of  
being forced to upgrade (and pay for!) software that they don't really  
need. The big argument would be "if XP works, why replace it?" Of  
course Microsoft's answer to that is "we're pulling the plug on  
support for XP so you have to upgrade to Vista"

Novell's bet the farm on Linux. I'm inclined to agree with them. ODF  
is awesome (comlete, non-patent encumbered document format) compared  
to Microsoft's OOXML (which IS encumbered with Intellectual Property  
and patents). OpenOffice isn't perfect yet, but there are transition  
options for people (like, say, in Microsoft Office save your documents  
as ODF documents, etc). Novell also actually has a Small Business  
Server equivalent, and all the pieces are in place (for some reason  
freaking RedHat doesn't...) See

Anyway does anyone else out int Tucons have any thoughts? I'm young  
and naive and I want to be my own boss. I've also been playing with  
Linux for round abouts 8 years now. See my resume on  
http://nixwizard.net for more info if anyone's interested

Eric