On Thursday 03 June 2010 20:26:25 Rahul Jayaraman wrote:
agreed.. @jtd the motive of my question was to find a way to get past the barriers i face
My method:
1. most of the 'old farts' are not tech savvy in terms of computers and gadgets. Many of them even refuse to use mobile phones. But they are tech savvy in manufacturing and business - respect that. There is an old reader's digest joke:
Phd in agriculture to farmer: The way you are cultivating it, I would be surprised if you got even one kilo of apples from that tree (sneers)
farmer: I would be even more surprised since it is a pear tree (sneers)
2. Do not try to dazzle them with your knowledge of technology - they have made their money and their mark. They will not be impressed.
3. Dazzle the grandsons by showing the immense superiority of linux distros over what they use. My success in this sphere is mainly due to my showing of a local cloud server which gives response times of 72 ms whereas the servers they are using are giving 772 ms. If they ask why there are so many distros, you ask them why they have 6 types of cars - better to stick to ambassador and fiat!
Our people fail in impressing 'old farts' precisely because they think they know everything and act superior - this goes for college professors too.