I used to be willing to work for Free, but now ...

So I'm pretty jazzed about the new server. It seems to be ticking along nicely. Time to do something new.

A few years ago I modified a free help desk system to help me manage the tech demands at our school. It was hard work, and took many hours to implement. Still, the rewards of having anything that worked for "free" seemed worth it. However, times have changed. Now I expect more from open source. The quality of software has risen to the point where I do not feel I should need to spend weeks of time just getting something to work. With that thought in mind I went looking for a "free" help desk solution that would work, mostly out of the box.

What did I find ... not much it seems. Far too many companies offer a "free" product in this area, but they are so crippled, it's just not worth installing. Two seemed to stand out. One is from Ilient, called SysAid. Looks robust, and covers 100 assets and two admins for free. Looks great, especially for my cash strapped public school. Let's dive in!

Install looks very simple for windows, but I want to run this on RedHat. First hick, need to get tomcat working. Ok, done that, but it was not easy. Lost of miss starts. I still don't have it running automatically on boot. Oh well.

So now the program. Ok, not bad setup, most concepts easy. Hey wait, where do I customize this? AARGH, I can't seem to just slap graphics, change text and go. Hmm, looks like more work than I can do in one night. Rats. I wanted this up and running. Now I have to decide, wrestle with this package, or try the second one. I'll fill you in later.

Going to bed.