Help a FOSS enthusiast switch to the Microsoft way of things
June 5, 2010 11:49 AM   Subscribe

I've been a self proclaimed Linux/BSD expert for the past 8 years. I just got offered a job selling Windows-based solutions. What do I need to speed-read to make the switch?

I have 8 years of Linux sys admining under my belt, dealing almost exclusively with Debian and some OS X. My desktops are Windows, but on the server side I've only really used Windows 2000 Server, and not had any real time on anything more recent. I'm already plowing through all the O'Reilly books I can find, but is there anything else I should be reading? Generally speaking I know "what" to do (IMAP server), just now the "how" to do it in a Windows environment.

Thanks all.
posted by felspar to Computers & Internet (2 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
As a former MCSE, I'm of two minds here. One mind says that there's a whole language associated with "Microsoft Solutions," and that classes are the best way to acquire that. I'm sure Microsoft Press (which is good) illustrates what I'm talking about as well, so you can certainly teach yourself. The second mind is that sales and high-level architecture are somewhat generic skills. Not to demean either of them, just that in a lot of situations you can mold what you already know from the Unix world to the software packages and options that Microsoft offers. There is probably still a #windowsnt channel on EFNet if you're amenable to that kind of thing. They'd give you good and current pointers for sure.
posted by rhizome at 12:15 PM on June 5, 2010


Will you selling to techies or business folks? I'm a FOSS enthusiast who is currently employed selling a dot net based SaaS solution that has a client software component that only runs on Windows. If you are selling to the business side of the house you really don't need any remedial training. It's all about benefits and ROI and for the most part they don't care about the underlying technology that much. If you are selling to techies you will want to bone up just so you come off as knowledgeable, but again to a large extent the benefits will work for an MS solution too.

The hard part for you will be pitching the MS solution with conviction :)
posted by COD at 12:31 PM on June 5, 2010


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