Forum OpenACS Q&A: Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration

1: Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration

Posted by Robin Felix on 08/04/02 05:56 PM

You veterans can ignore this -- you know it already

I am a Naval Reservist who lives in San Diego. After 9/11, I was mobilized to active duty in Maryland, leaving behind my home, wife, kids, and OpenACS (version 3.2.5) site, felixOrg.

I had developed the site as a learning tool, a repository for photos, and a prototype for a system at work, and because I was (and am) firmly convinced that a data-centric model, hardening only one remotely-accessible system, is far more useful than a machine- centric model for manipulating "personal date," i.e. schedules, phone books, and the like. As it happened, I had to leave it all behind with almost no notice when I left home, running unattended in my San Diego home via cable modem.

What a wonderful tool it has been! The system had an uptime of over 100 days when I left in October, kept running without problems until March when I did a kernel security patch, and continues without a hiccup. I've been home three times since then with far better things to do than system administration, and it just keeps chugging along providing remote access to my data and services to my family, friends, and other users. I continue to do the majority of administration via the various web interfaces with occasional SSH logins to touch the database, however those were "nice-to-have," not required interventions.

I can't begin to say how this has eased my absence. How many software systems can you name that would continue to operate autonomously for a year? Of those, how many were not built to mission-critical specifications at great expense? Not many.

I skim the digests and boards, and sometimes it seems that the end user's voice doesn't appear very often here. To that end, I'd like to thank all the people who have made OpenACS the stable, reliable, useful set of tools is it. I'm looking forward to coming home one of these days and exploring the 4.x series.

Oh, did I mention that I implemented a similar system used for interdivisional coordination at a major defense contractor that has also run unattended since I left?

Best regards to all.

2: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Michael Feldstein on 08/05/02 02:50 AM

Thanks for the great story, Robin.

With all the talk of marketing lately, one easy thing we haven't done yet is collect testimonials. This might be a good thread for others to post their "Energizer Bunny" type OpenACS stories.

3: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Jun Yamog on 08/05/02 05:20 AM

Simon or anyone doing the marketing push. I hope you have saved or bookmarked this article. This is a definitely one of the best testimonials.

4: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Torben Brosten on 08/05/02 05:34 AM

Jun, I already added it to the notes I'm collecting for marketing docs, but thanks for the alert --this shouldn't be missed. And, thank you, Robin Felix!

5: Another Why OpenACS blurb: (response to 1)

Posted by Cathy Sarisky on 08/08/02 06:51 AM

Another blurb, in drafty form. Comments welcome.

6: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Jun Yamog on 08/08/02 07:22 AM

Hi Cathy,

I like the flow of the blurb. It first states what else you can do by not using OpenACS... php, etc. Then gives the problem then shows OpenACS as the solution. It also gives the weaknesses of OpenACS without really showing that its a problem. And to cap it off the acorn hosting plug.

We have Philg in the making here! - its meant to be a positive compliment. :)

7: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Cathy Sarisky on 08/08/02 09:56 AM

Jun - Thanks, I think.

Fortunately Acorn doesn't have any venture capital, so I think I'm safe. :)

OTOH, I've already got the dogs for it, at least...

8: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Guan Yang on 08/08/02 10:05 AM

It wouldn't really be Philg without the photography stuff. How many cameras do you own, Cathy?

9: Response to Testemonial to Stability and Ease of Administration (response to 1)

Posted by Jade Rubick on 08/08/02 06:08 PM

I think this is the best description of why to go with Open ACS I've
read. We should have something like this on the main webpage.
Great job, Cathy!