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EU Publishes Open Source Migration Guidelines
Skunil writes "The IDA Open Source Migration Guidelines provide practical and detailed recommendations on how to migrate to Open Source Software (OSS)-based office applications, calendaring, e-mail and other standard applications. These guidelines have been designed to help public administrators decide whether a migration to OSS should be undertaken and describe, in broad technical terms, how such a migration could be carried out. They are based on practical experience of a limited number of publicly available case studies, and cover a wide range of management and technical concerns."
Boot cdrom format load linux
the state should use open source its my money they use to buy MS poop
------
mmmm round and soft...
Anyone else find the humor in the spreadsheet being an XLS file? I figure if the target audience is a group of people who use MS products, then they'll have no problem opening that XLS file.
I'd feel better about these "how to transition your project to open source" guidelines if the first step weren't
Okay, okay, just kidding.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
JUST DO IT!
Step one... stop bending over
Step two... remove Microsoft "probe"
*FREEDOM*
SCO: 800-726-8649
Verisign: 800-361-8319, 888-642-9675
Diebold: 800-433-VOTE (8683)
Now if only they were talking in the terms of Free Software instead of merely Open Source I would be sure that they are indeed motivated by our freedom and not only technical superiority of GNU. But I am sure that it is only a matter of time until the Freedom ideals are widely recognised in EU parlament. This is a step in the right direction. There are other steps which must follow.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
RTFM
OSS advocates should also advocate to businesses that are just starting up and households that are just purchasing their first PC.
It would make more sense to start fresh with free software rather than to switch after paying for proprietary software.
I'd really suggest you download the pdf before commenting. It's really quite a piece of work. In fact it looks like it might be the most comprehensive guide yet written on how to migrate to opensource. This is good stuff.
Armed with this and of course google and you'd be way ahead of the curve in planning or evaluating a migration to opensource.
Kudos to the authors.
If you wanna get rich, you know that payback is a bitch
I can't get the damn lid of this ketchup bottle.
Here is the short form for deciding whether migration to OSS is appropriate:
1. Are you OK with a foreign company having complete control of your data?
Answers:
Yes -- Continue using MS products.
No -- Switch.
That's "Mr. Soulless Automaton" to you, Bub.
Windows ..... Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD,etc.
MS Office ....... OpenOffice, ????
Outlook, OulookExpress ...... ????
you get the idea.
Unless you know what the OSS version's name is, you wouldn't know what to replace it with.
I don't know what all the OSS replacements are, if there are any, or what functionality they have (haven't). This would greatly help someone trying to migrate. Otherwise, I'm afraid, they'll just throw up their hands, and say,"I don't know where to start."
There is no spoon or sig.
11.6.2. Personal databases held centrally or locally
Ad hoc personal databases are not well supported in OSS. There is no direct equivalent to Access, nor is one being developed. Several of the groupware packages do offer some capability in this area using a variety of OSS SQL databases as a back-end. In some cases (such as NullLogic) ordinary users can only use pre-defined queries. Some offer the ability to define forms that can be used to store and access data.
Is there someone who could either rebut this statement, or would want to work on a replacement? Yes, Access sucks and is the bane of any data-warehousing project... but it's utility is the reason there are so many small but completely critical .mdb files out there.
Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
Looking at how much its hurt them, MS is the first place I'd ask for advice on an anti-trust lawsuit.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Avoid.
Isn't FreeBSD released under the BSD license? If you want free software rather than open source, Linux is the way to go, its under the GPL.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
Open Office had no problem with the spreadsheet and PDF's are easily read under Linux.
Ok, i feel better now. I got so caught up in following the links, I didn't even look at the first thing on the page. Yes, I feel really stupid right now.
There is no spoon or sig.
Don't you think step two should precede, rather than follow, step one? I mean, ouch...
1984 was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.
before bashing it?
First of all, it is for EU agencies. Using this material to back up your decisions might be the difference between a promotion and getting fired if you work for such an organization. This is important for the audience it was written for.
Also, if you are into migrations to OSS, you might find some useful information, regardless of its target audience.
Anyway, the FASB is as bureaucratic as the EU and their publications are much more boring, but as a CPA I hang on every word they publish and so should anyone working in the accounting field, throughout the world. This is not about inspiring people, it is about setting standards, which is not as entertaining as the former but is just as important.
Personally, I think it is great for ANY institution to write on this subject, especially when it has a degree of objectivity on the subject. Many of the "case studies" that this was based on have never been published, so this adds additional observational information on the subject, at the very least.
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
The Linux community as a whole should make sure that the direction is "free" software and not simply "open-source" software. For this, the FreeBSD license is the best.
:)
Blurring the line between humor and troll. I like it
I think not .. I have been using Open Office to read Excel spreadsheets on Win and FreeBSD all day, and Adobe's Acroreader runs fine on my FreeBSD desktop - it may not be open, but its free as in beer!
Mr Elmer FUD you are wong about them wabbits.
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Yes, but not for Security advise or fair trade practices.
Since when is a paper on software migration options anything to do with management?
Oh, but you've not read it have you?
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
Unless I misread the FreeBSD license it only stipulates three things: 1) this software is freely distributable and you can do what you want with it, 2) you can't remove any copyright notices or the like and 3) no one is responsible for the code. Freer even thant the GPL.
Peter M. Dodge,
Chief Executive Officer,
LiquidFire Studios
Platinum Linux - www.
Um if your American and from the U.S. Im just gonna laugh,dictatorship of officialdom it may be but at least we put them their...and who would you prefer, souless ocasionally greedy and corrupt buerocrats who can weasel the E.U. into all manner of intresting things or well the thing that is the Bush administration...
Uh hmmm FREEbsd.....
;^>
FREE bsd
FREE
I think you get the idea
Seriously though check out freebsd.org it'll but your fears to rest. Great OS, Great Lic. I've got a few at work & they don't cost a dime.
You speak as if I should have some unexplainable hatred of FreeBSD. For that matter, I don't hate Windows, I just despise the business practices of Microsoft. To haul it all back to the point of my comment, we should press "freely-available" software, not just "open-source" software.
Peter M. Dodge,
Chief Executive Officer,
LiquidFire Studios
Platinum Linux - www.
About how much hassle you'll have to go through getting the open source license server manager daemons properly configured after calling in your product activation!
[Sorry, couldn't resist.]
"Provided by the management for your protection."
The first dozen pages of the document that I read tell how to make such a switch. So here's the second short form:
Do you want to be branded a political failure in the switch?
If you chose 2, switch gradually, one system at a time, starting with the least-critical systems and the systems farthest away from direct interaction with users. Once you get to the users, switch their interfaces one piece at a time, starting by introducing Free Software that runs within the existing proprietary framework (examples include Mozilla and OpenOffice.org products for Windows OS).
Will I retire or break 10K?
Here's a possible example:
If you look at the details of MS Bulletin ms03-045 you see the patch has problems with third party apps in the languages:
Six of the eight authoring countries are on the troubled patch list.
Perhaps Isreal is not the only country they pissed off once too often.
Does it have a graphical schema designer and graphical data interaction tools? Any Access replacement should have at least those.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Freedon, eh, pad're? To do as you wish?? Even if that WISH is to overpay for proprietary, monopolistic software? THAT much freedom is what you have in mind? Hehe .... ya little Stalinist pr*ck I didn't think so.
I'd love to see David and Ted trying to fuck the Devil's asshole...
You should've known items 1 & 2 wouldn't go over well on Slashdot.
Adobe's Acroreader runs fine on my FreeBSD desktop
Why not use xpdf? Much faster to load, and much nicer to use (IMHO) than Adobe. The more recent Acrobat versions seem to be suffering from the "creeping featurism" design bug.
Read, L
The grandparent was an old post, the product of a massive Troll Tuesday distributed crapflood some years ago. However, the original participants then were Hemos and CmdrTaco [IIRC] and the victim was a rabbit.
Lost the link to the original and have been looking for it ever since, thanks for reposting it.
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
...when Software Patents become a reality?
STOP MISUSING APOSTROPHES, YOU MORONS!!!
I think the most important section of that whole document is 7.3, which I lovingly think of as the "condom section" - common sense steps to protecting yourself when you're in a relationship with a beast. Face it - for whatever reasons, many IT managers are loathe to leave the Microsoft cradle and make the jump to OSS. But 7.3 is practical common-sense advice about how not to dig a bigger hole than one you're in.
But not promised to remain free. Anyone can create a totally proprietary FreeBSD fork. Thats what free software means. Check out fsf.org for more info on free software.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
f you want free software rather than open source, Linux is the way to go, its under the GPL.
It's easy to argue that the BSD license is "more free" than the GPL.
With BSD, you can license any derivative product you might create under any license you wish. Under the GPL, you must use the GPL for all derivative works. Therefore, BSD is "more Free".
On the other hand, this limitation that the GPL imposes gives an advantage that the BSD license does not to most users of software and tech support people. Namely that you will always have free access to the use of the software that your business is relying on, with no possibility of that software changing licenses after you've established your business.
If you are in the business of selling software, then the BSD license is clearly better for your business, but if you are in any other business, it seems that the GPL license would be more to your advantage.
Read, L
[snip 147 pages]
If you are in the business of selling software, then the BSD license is clearly better for your business, but if you are in any other business, it seems that the GPL license would be more to your advantage.
Slight correction: if you are in the business of selling software then BSD license is probably the worst choice you could make for your own software, but if you can convince other people to BSD their stuff so that you can take it and distribute it under a license that's nothing like BSD then that's great for you.
Comments?
Does everything include nothing?
It's always amusing to see how fast advocates can do an about-face without snapping their necks.
"Eek! Microsoft controls all your data, and locks it up in impenetrable file formats! We are at their mercy, unless you switch to OSS now!"
"But then I'd lose my data, wouldn't it?"
"Of course not! You can easily read all your files will all these non-MS apps with no problems."
Make up your mind, Elmer.
The excel tool looks pretty cool so i opened it up under openoffice and tried the following values:
Intenal desktop: 20
Home desktop: 1
users: 20
Sites: 1
Years of propriety upgrade: 3
Cost of propietory works out to be: 48,364 for the fist year.
Cost of FOSS (1st yr): 40,462
Now the shocking big:
Total cost of migration for the first year:
4,095,925 (thats 4 million euros!!) for 20 computers! [hardware:10,925; Software: 2480000, People:160500]
wait a minute.. was this funded by microsoft??
We should be seeing a lot of books like that soon. Munich was the first step.
In fact, I would expect it to be in an MS format since the document (I assume) is about _how_ to migrate from MS to Open Source. Putting it in some Open Source format would be ironic, because, then how could those using MS possibly read it and thereby learn how to migrate?
Irony occurs when the conveyed meaning is contrary to expectation or the literal meaning.
but isnt europe trying to ban innovation? ;P
I think this contradicts itself
well of course there are always different factions...
bah whatever.
I just hope the thirst for OSS overcomes proprietary lust.
and describe, in broad technical terms, how such a migration could be carried out. T
1. Format C:
2. Install freeware OS
3. Fart in the general direction of Redmond , WA
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
"just like a penguin in bondage, boy"
- Frank Zappa circa 1983
This is the license from FreeBSD. How much more Free can it get??
Copyright 1994-2003 FreeBSD, Inc. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE FREEBSD PROJECT ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE FREEBSD PROJECT OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official policies, either expressed or implied, of the FreeBSD Project or FreeBSD, Inc.
True ravers don't need drugs
Yes. And there are hundreds of 'forks' of Linux and one FreeBSD.
Better check on more than the fsf.org site for complete information....
A Good Intro to NetBS
this is in response to your .sig
use firbird with the mozex extension.
Yeah, coz I mean it wouldn't have been ironic if it was released in GnuSpread or something would it?
If not converting institutions to oss, this document will save them money. What do you think will happen when you tell the MS salesman: "Ohh, but we have a central guideline that says we can migrate in this case." prices drops like IT stocks!
The nicest feature of PDFs, in my opinion, is the bookmarks, which allow me to skip to the point in the document I want easily, since a well written document will have all of the headings in a tree structure in the bookmarks bar. Last time I used xpdf it did not support bookmarks like this. This is the reason I am still using acroread.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
While on the face of it the report looks good, deeper reading reveals some serious flaws, besides the fact that the spreadsheet is in XLS format.
First of all, the report is factually incorrect in several areas. Netproject list the City of Turku as a case study, but the City of Turku turned out to be a turkey - they only used OSS as a driver for microsoft to lower rices, which they did, and Turku is now a well publicised MS case study. Not very clever to use that as advertisement for an OSS migration. The one thing PA officials do is check out case studies. It get numerous facts wrong about some of the software packages, and on the whole looks more like parroting of populist stances (exim is better and faster then postfix, for example) then real-life testing. At the very least, they should back these type of statements up with facts.
Secondly, this is so full of OSS politics, it is not even funny anymore. Take for example this little gem: "Of the session managers KDE's is the more mature but Gnome is catching up fast. Gnome is being supported by Sun Microsystems and members of the Gnome Foundation. netproject considers that it has a better architecture and believes it has a better future.". That initself should be the subject of a fine little flamewar..... Also, there are, again, no facts to support the supposition of a "better" architecture. Also, SUSE, for example, get very little to no airtime in the document, and the document is simply wrong about some of the issues discussed around SUSE. for example, the YAST discussion is plain wrong, and some highly popular prducst, such as openexchange, get no mention whatsoever. Granted, some components of SLOX are closed source, but that doesn't stop the authors from mentioning and even recommending other closed source products.
Finally, and perhaps the worst flaw of all, is the fact that despite its size, it is simply a (badly researched) list of products. This is not a HOWTO migrate, this is a list of "if you migrate, use these tools". There is no methodology, no method, not *system* to migrate. This is organisational masturbation, a big "look how l33t we are" kind of thing.
I can spend some more time ranting about this, but will be to no avail. It is published, and undoubtedly, many fools will brandish this as the final word in ridding the world of the closed source software scourge. To all our detriment......
People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.
It appears that you may just have slashdotted the EU. The link just sends a server error :)
Cute.
Where have your banknotes been?!
That is NOT what free software means, I suggest YOU check out the FSF definition. The BSD license is listed as a GPL-Compatible, Free Software License.
You are correct that anyone can make a proprietary fork of BSD software, but software under the BSD license is most cetainly free, although not copy-lefted.
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
Of course it "fits [my] definition of free [software]" (link added) since The Open Source Definition by Eric Raymond is nothing else but just a rewrite of Free Software Guidelines from Debian GNU/Linux Social Contract written by Bruce Perens himself in the first place. That is not an issue though.
What I find somehow disturbing is the very fact that while I can fully understand that back then mentioning freedom and liberty ideals was inconvenient for Eric Raymond in his business negotiations and that he wanted to focus on technical merits while temporarily ignoring the ethical implications until large corporations start actually using the "new" (i.e. new for the corporations mentioned above) open source software and then going back to calling it "free software" again as soon as it gets the required momentum. Fair enough.
But I find it absolutely unacceptable to ignore political, ethical and social issues -- to ignore the freedom itself -- in the context of political decisions of the European Union. Please keep in mind that saying "open source" instead of "free software" had only one purpose -- to temporarily ignore the very fact that GNU is all about freedom in the first place, the techincal superiority being only a nice side effect.
Once again, in the business context I can understand Raymond but bastardising his idea to talk about GNU in the explicitly political environment is clearly against both movements, traditional Free Software as well as the new Open Source, since after all Open Source is Free Software minus the politics -- that's the whole point.
Give me Eric Raymond and Open Source Initiative for talking about business any day, but if we are talking about politics then give me Richard Stallman and Free Software Foundation because this is the political movement.
Of course we all know it is much more complicated than that, since we understand that not mentioning GNU in the name of the OS and calling it simply Linux is done exactly because that way the whole system can be called "open source" without the need to ever publically talk about GNU and free software ideals at all, but we have to remember that the politicians might not always realize that.
Sincerely,
Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
"Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
microsoft software is not free? damn it, kazaa lied to me again...
All employees will be sent to the RMS Political Re-education camp.
No, there are no toilets, and they will have to provide their own food for the duration.
Prisoners^H^H^H Trainees will not released^H^H^H certified until they can:
a) recite the entire contents of the "Cathedral & the Bazaar" from memory
b) chant in unison "death to the capitalist running dogs of Richmond!"c) consistently spell Micro$oft correctly
d) correctly indentify all relevent acronyms and software dependencies of our glorious OS
Upon completion, all sucessful devotees^H^H^H comrades^H^H^H candidates will be issued with the collected thoughts of RMS, which they must keep close to their hearts.
Long live our glorious Leader^H^H^H Operating System!
need a free COBOL editor for Windows?
This guide is mostly a compendium to help users of Microsoft products in migrating to free and open source software equivalents that they might not be familiar with.
In other words, if you've already decided to migrate and don't know much about where you're going, then this will help you. That seems to be insufficient. You need to know more about your destination (and where you're starting from) before you activate a migration.
Such a document is educational, but is not the only set of information that someone needs.
What's needed is an objective survey of organizations that have made a migration, including details of the work mix, what glitches they had to overcome, hidden training costs of moving, extra savings they hadn't anticipated from the move, etc.
Motivation for considering a migration is remarkable because it isn't trumpeted loudly by a particular company that stands to profit if you migrate. Competing organizations that have made a successful migration have little incentive to alert you to any advantages they might have gained from making such a migration. In fact, they can profit by keeping you in the dark if they have obtained a migration advantage.
Just how objective are the big IT consulting firms stand in such evaluations? A recent Gartner recommendation seems to resemble a long list of Why Not To migrate. And certainly there are genuine pitfalls. But IT consulting firms are not foolproof in their evaluations and recommendations nor are they immune to influence.
What's needed are more publicly available documents of case studies of migrations that have happened:I'm thinking of case studies like Ernie Ball, but including other businesses, too.
"Provided by the management for your protection."
No, I'm in the UK, and while the US system is shit, the EU is a complete joke; destroying all sovereignty and handing it over to Brussels, where your country can be dictated to by people you haven't even elected, I don't want some German telling me what laws to abide by.
The worst thing is, you can't even leave the EU under their current constitution which is a fucking joke.
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
http://www.gnome-db.org/
a n t_sql.png
Gnome Database project
mergeant: Front-end for database administrators and database application developers.
Screenshots of Mergeant
http://www.gnome-db.org/screenshots.php
http://www.gnome-db.org/images/screenshots/merge
"Thank you. Please come again."
- Obligatory Simpsons Reference
A Brit I bloody new the only other thing you could be was a Brit.Well suck my green Irish backside.
1.Singular nation states have and are the cause of most of humanities present and past woes religion not taken into acount.
2.I dont want a bloody efficient state, efficient states can do nasty things.
3.I like an slightly effective EU buerocracy not only does it suck up ppl who have a lust for power but it means that they balance each other out and end up with none.
4.I bloody go to uni in the North Mr.Brit. Sovereignty is mighty important here and right now my standpoint is this. Make national goverments nothing more than reigional assemblies and let everybody get on whith their lives as bothered by goverment as little as possible save for social security and a defence force. And coming from the single most warlike nation on the face of the earth well....Im a history student I know of what I speak. Can't Leave?!!!? Of course a nation can leave they can just order their army to through out all the beurocrats, stop obeying the laws and their MEP's and chuck their economy in the bin while their at it. As long as nation states retian control of their own armies their wont be a problem (one reason im opposed to a european defence force).
5.Britain has gone to war as an independent nation state to defend its "Soveriegnty" for good reasons, it has done it a great deel more often for bad ones, At least America has the excuse of being under Twats, Ye don't. OOOh post on topic er er Sod that I want ta rant godsdammit.
LMAO, you're so stupid, I love it.
"2.I dont want a bloody efficient state, efficient states can do nasty things."
Hence Ireland...
"3.I like an slightly effective EU buerocracy not only does it suck up ppl who have a lust for power but it means that they balance each other out and end up with none."
oh my fucking god, you're ludicrous.
"4.I bloody go to uni in the North Mr.Brit. Sovereignty is mighty important here and right now my standpoint is this. Make national goverments nothing more than reigional assemblies and let everybody get on whith their lives as bothered by goverment as little as possible save for social security and a defence force. And coming from the single most warlike nation on the face of the earth well....Im a history student I know of what I speak. Can't Leave?!!!? Of course a nation can leave they can just order their army to through out all the beurocrats, stop obeying the laws and their MEP's and chuck their economy in the bin while their at it. As long as nation states retian control of their own armies their wont be a problem (one reason im opposed to a european defence force).
5.Britain has gone to war as an independent nation state to defend its "Soveriegnty" for good reasons, it has done it a great deel more often for bad ones, At least America has the excuse of being under Twats, Ye don't. OOOh post on topic er er Sod that I want ta rant godsdammit"
So you hate Britain, but you go to our uni's, WHY DONT YOU FUCK OFF HOME THEN U FUCKING LITTLE LEBRECHEUN.
Unlike you, I'm proud to be British, and in the finest country in the world. Ireland however is the cesspit of Europe, so I understand why you hate your own country. Unlike yours, Britain is great, hence Great Britain. You say we can leave? how, use our armies? Against the rest of Europe..? yes, you're clever, understand this: The EU WILL NEVER allow anyone to leave, it's too costly, and would risk splitting the entire thing apart.
Britain goes to war to defend other countries, we've done that for hundreds of years, and have caused the collapse of many evil empires in our time, we've done the world a tremendous service throughout time. Why don't you fuck off to Ireland if you hate Britain so much? Then again I bet you support the IRA as well, if Ireland is so great, why do the people of NI wish to stay British? Why do the British wish to stay British. You're a stupid little Irishman who can't see how shit his country's economy is doing in the EU, can't see that soon Ireland will have no sovereignty, can't see that Ireland doesn't even have an army anyway, and can't understand what the EU really is.
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
Has been a management-level decision at every business I've worked at.