It is not often in the world of business that you get to interview someone who is openly nicknamed ?Mad dog?.

Jon Hall said he got the name because of his fiery temper. Twenty years ago as a teacher he had a fight with an Englishman, and after the saying ?mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun? he was stuck with the nickname.

?I still have a temper,? the computer whiz said with a wicked grin. ?But I have learned to control it better over the years.?

Mad dog is still out there teaching, and is in Bermuda to spread the word of Linux International, a free operating system to students, government and businesses called Linux.

?It can help to keep jobs on the Island,? he said. ?It creates local jobs which create other jobs in turn. And it is efficient. It can either help you save money or help you make money.?

And as president and executive director of Linux International, he will be speaking at an open and free seminar held tonight at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration institute hosted by Bermuda Computer Services.

And he hopes to educate the Bermudian public about the benefits of the Linux system, which has been growing in popularity as a rival to Microsoft.

Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under the GNU General Public License, the source code for Linux is freely available to everyone and therefore allows companies and individuals the power to change the way the system works.

?When it comes down to it, would you consider buying a car with the hood welded shut,? said Mad dog. ?You would have to send it back to the manufacturer to get if fixed every time something happened instead of taking it down to the garage for an oil change.?

He said that with systems such as Microsoft, people had to buy set packages that were not ideally suited to the needs of a company and companies ended up either making do with what they had or adapting their company to fit the package.

And he said that with open source technology such as Linux companies had more control over their systems.

?Sometimes companies have systems that are perfectly fine, but they can no longer find hardware they need, they have to upgrade their operating systems as well,? he said , adding that with Linux they could save a lot of time and money.

?They can move the system from the old hardware to the new one and everything works the same, with no re-training of staff for a new system needed.?

Speaking alongside Mad dog is Jim Elliott, the Linux advocate for IBM in Canada, on how to use Linux in businesses. IBM is a large user of Linux, with 2,100 systems.

?You can have more control and control over your destiny and future,? said Mr. Elliott.

Bill Dickinson, of Bermuda Computer Services, who has organised the seminar tonight (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) said he hopes to get between 150 and 160 people at the seminar.

And while Linux can be downloaded free from its website, many choose to use professionals to help them find the right solutions to their problem.

BCS uses IBM and Linux and ?we can help build end to end solutions and help people get the best out of Linux,? said Mr. Dickinson