The Alternate Reality, Episode 3: The Chicken Run

Mat Newman July 29 2010 21:45:49

Tomorrow I have my first classroom session since switching to Ubuntu. It's my regular Notes Induction session for a customer.

The Chicken Run is simple. Do I live on the edge and run my class in my Alternate Reality, or do The Chicken Run back to Windows?

Notes works the same, the Smart-Board and Notebook software work the same, and those are the tools I need to run the class.

It IS a Notes class after all, not a Windows session, so does it matter what operating system I'm using to lead the training?

Would it concern you if the bits around the outside of the Instructors screen didn't look exactly the same as yours?

Thoughts, suggestions and comments welcome. The class starts in 11 hours.

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1Craig Davies 07/29/2010 22:38:20
The Alternate Reality, Episode 3: The Chicken Run

Go and do it. I'm still wimping on a dual boot setup but I find the Ubuntu side much faster and Notes flies on it.

Perhaps running your training on Linux may help break the MS cycle in some places.

Perhaps take three machines (Linux, MS and Apple) and show that is all works the same no matter what you use?

2Len Berg 07/29/2010 23:16:15
The Alternate Reality, Episode 3: The Chicken Run

As a part-time trainer (end-user and Domino system admin). I know that some students get flustered if the instructor's environment is not exactly like theirs. I don't consider it a chicken run to use the exact same environment as the students'.

3Stephan H. WIssel 07/30/2010 0:37:02
The Alternate Reality, Episode 3: The Chicken Run

Unless you need to show the (still missing on Linux) Quickr connector - go with Linux. You could go a little cheeky and use a Windows look-alike theme and reveal the Ubuntu casually during the session.

4Mat Newman

07/30/2010 0:41:11 Turned out it was not a big deal after all

@1: Craig, You were the kid standing on the ground sucking an icy-pole yelling "come on, hurry up!" while your mate was standing on the roof wearing a super hero cape - right :-)

@2: Len, Great point: Think I've solved the problem though :-)

@3: Stephan, It gets better - the client is on Notes 6 and is in the process of upgrading to Notes 7, so the side-bar/eclipse features don't even figure...

The solution was really simple in the end, I found a Windows theme for Linux that looks almost identical to XP (http://www.ubuntu.online02.com/node/14). The participants would have to be pretty observant to notice that I'm not really running Windows (screen shot after applying the theme here: http://twitpic.com/29qa5a ).

Notes 7 under Wine has been pretty stable this week, so now that the potential for confusion between what the participants see on their screen - compared with my demo's - is pretty negligent, I'm going to run the class using Linux.

This is my last hurdle to staying with Ubuntu and never looking back. Only once this week have I had to go back into Windows, and that was to change an Adobe Illustrator file in a hurry. I've since found a solution to that issue too.

I'll report back tomorrow, but at this stage I'm pretty much prepared to call the experiment a success.

Mat Newman IBM Champion

5Craig Davies 08/10/2010 11:17:18
The Alternate Reality, Episode 3: The Chicken Run

Indeed, but I would have already jumped....

Mat Newman

THE Notes (formerly IBM/Lotus Notes) Guy. Productivity Guru. Evangelist. IBM Champion for IBM Collaboration Solutions, 2011/2012/2013. Former IBMer. HCLite. Views are my own.

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