Small-Town Open Source Adoption

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet has a piece on the adoption of open source software by Steamboat Springs, CO. The small resort town has integrated OSS into all aspects of productivity and e-governance. Kent Morrison, the IS Manager for the town, discusses what made them switch and how it has gone." From the article: "What about Linux on the desktop--is this an option for your organization? Morrison: We've discussed it. With Linux's ability to emulate Windows improving every year, we see that as a possibility. We would build a Linux image for the majority of users, but for the 20 percent of users that run Windows-only applications we would keep them on the same platform. We would try to make a Linux desktop look like our Windows environment (the organization currently runs Windows 2000 but will start rolling out XP this year) as we don't want to retrain our users. We don't have a time frame for installing Linux yet, though."

Comments

Re:Read The Synopsis!

[galenoftheshadows]

"There may be 10,000 people living in the Steamboat Springs area (give or take a few thousand), but they certainly aren't all working for the local government!"

There are over 6 million people in Colorado, about 35,000 of those live in Steamboat Springs. There are around 700 people working for the local government. Even if the move to a Linux Desktop for a computerized timeclock were implemented, you still have to take time out of YOUR day to train all of them, that's a lot of time.

"If my little sister can handle e17, I think professionals working for the government should be expected to..."

Just because your little sister is your Linux brainchild, doesn't mean that ANYONE should be forced to use something they're not comfortable with.

"(not that any of the nature-lovers in Colorado care about fiscal responsibility)"

1. Try managing a multi-billion dollar budget, and then say that. 2. You obviously live somewhere like New York, where grass doesn't even grow in the cracks of the concrete because there's so much oil in the dirt, don't you? 3. Don't ever bring your beloved flea infested, plastic plant into my state, I'll beat the ever lovin' shit out of it with one of our bonafied "Boulder Hippies."