On Wed, 2009-02-25 at 14:06 +0000, Simon Capstick wrote:
> Does anyone believe the government will actually follow through with
> this one?
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7910110.stm
>
> Simon
You must have missed this bit :
"Open source software will be adopted "when it delivers best value for
money", the government said.".
Thats a cop-out clause.
Ive used Linux for quite a while, and thankfully picked up a lot of
stuff.
But what support do you have for Linux ?
1) - Forums.
2) - Canonical Paid-for support.
3) - Your IT department if they are savvy enough about Linux.
Its OK to post to a LUG or a distro / software forum, if the answer is a
definite fix for the problem. A lot of companies (Atos Origin for one)
have help desks in India, for specific help in the specific software
they use.
Im being a bit sceptic, as Ive seen forums where people have posted for
help, and the replies have been "I did this, it worked for me and MY
hardware.", or "Why use the network manager when you can try wicd.".
Linux help needs to dumb down for the average office admin staff, and
having worked in offices for over 9 years, Ive seen this too often.
People want a computer to work, and when it goes wrong they want it fix
10 mins ago, not to have to go to a forum and get a "Maybe this will
help" reply. Plus there is too much "In-House" software that would have
to be ported to linux, either re-written for linux or under a VM.
Ive read that Brazil, Spain and Portugal local governments have had
their own distros written, and gone over to Linux to severely save
money. This is fantastic news, and Id be VERY happy if a UK council
decides to do the same.
But if the government switches to Linux and saves millions per year, do
you think that saving will filter down to us ?
A) - Yes
B) - No
C) - Up to then you had a good argument, but now your taking the mick !
Thats my 2pence worth, probably gonna get some earache now. But it
should brighten up our day(s) a bit.
