





This is a complicated story but one that must be told. I'm not sure there is anything that can be done about it except rage at the moon...



But it needs to be told none the less.



Did I mention it gets complicated? It does, but it does so for a reason. Let's introduce the starting lineup.















The Players:



*Our Principal - In the US.



*An Indian Contracting Company



*A large computer/server company with three letters in their name.



*A large credit card company with four letters in their name.



*A friend of The Principal



The Principal is a guy who works with Linux Servers for a living. He was contacted by the Indian Contracting Company and asked to apply for a project position through the large company with three letters in their name. The contract was to patch the 1000+ linux servers with some proprietary SAN access software



With me so far?



Ok...so our Principal went through a grueling month-long process of applying for employment to be awarded this contract...a lucrative contract at that.



Of course, when you've been unemployed for any period of time, the term lucrative becomes relative.



He jumped through all the hoops...ran the gauntlet so to speak, and came to the very last step...a simple competency test to be taken online. He was given the URL and instructed to complete the test and notify the Project Manager at the computer company with three letters in their name when finished. He dutifully logged into the website and hit enter.



The page would not render.



At all.



Our Principal called the Project Manager and told her of the problem. It was soon deduced that our Linux Server Guy was using Linux on the Desktop with Firefox.



Now, I'm going to ask you to remember that he was dealing with a Project Manager that is employed by a huge computer/server company with three letters in their name. She was in charge of switching a large credit card company with four letters in their name over to Linux Servers. It isn't completely out of our realm of understanding that she didn't know what Linux on the desktop is. I will give her that. But I cannot let slide her next inquiry:



"What's this Foxfire thing?"



You've got to be kidding me...



No really.



But wait...it gets better, or worse...depending on where you sit.



The Project Manager mentioned that she would ship our Principal a laptop with Windows/Internet Explorer to him so he could finish the process and begin work. He was going to need it anyway to access MS Windows VPN only...it was how they would access the large credit card company with four letters in their name network. That was the setup for the project.



Not ideal, but it facilitated getting the job.



While waiting for his laptop to be over-nighted, our Principal decided that he might be able to contact someone who was in charge of the Windows/Internet Explorer site only, and see if there was something he could do at his end. IE4Linux had not worked and neither did trying to fool it into thinking Firefox was IE. He called them and asked for tech support.



They did not have a tech support but did take his number down and assured him he would receive a call back.



Turns out this probably wasn't the wisest move.



But who knew?



The company that ran the testing website ended up calling the Project Manager at a large computer/server company with three letters in their name and relayed the information they had received from our Principal.



Within a couple of hours, our Principal received a phone call from the Indian Contracting Company and was informed the project had been canceled. His services would no longer be required.



It stunk...it stunk of high suspicion if not outright lies.



Our Principal had spent a month of his time securing this contract and rightfully suspicious, he called his friend...the friend who had gotten him on the list for the project in the first place.



His friend made a couple calls. His friend called him back within the hour.



The Project had not been canceled. He had been fired. The reason?



The project manager reported that the Principal "refused to use Windows and Internet Explorer".



Which was not true.



Not only was the Principal taken off the project list...



It is reported that he has been blackballed from any future projects funded by this large computer/server company with three letters in their name.



So now let ME rage at the moon.



Because that's all I can do...



The irony? The "compentency test" was a Security & Privacy test from the four letter credit card company that HAD to be taken on MS Windows with IE?



I'll let you be the ones to point out the obvious...the fact that this large computer/server company with three letters in their name is reportedly a "friend to Linux". I'll let you talk about how a Linux Professional who uses Linux as their desktop environment was denied access to employment. Employment that was based on his knowledge of Linux. Yeah, the server side...but still...



Now let's brag about how much ground Linux has made...



And a Linux Project Manager for said company asking the question:



"What's this Foxfire thing?"

