Slashdot Mirror
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."
Steamboat Springs, CO may be having a great time moving to Linux, but it helps a lot that it's such a small community. The logistic problems are nowhere near the level they would be if a major metropolis tried to move all their systems to Linux. I think it's a great move, but there's a reason it's happening in a small town in Colorado rather than one of the cities with a high concentration of technology companies.
I've always pictured the color of OS zealotry as a sort of bright flamingo pinkish hue
And I especially hate the attitude that we can use Linux, if we can make it look and act just like Windows. Unless everyone working there is a dim bulb, I think they can handle something other than the Start Menu....
That's easy to say when you are not responsible for the re-training for a 10,000 person workforce, many of whom know nothing about computers aside from their specific application they trained on when they were hired.
Microsoft Fishing for dummies:
1) Install a few Linux file servers (without disturbing your Windows 2000 domain)
2) Talk to the press about plans of moving from Exchange to "open source" software. Mention possible plans of using Linux on desktops.
3) Let the Linux community talk about "another Munich"
4) Wait for the Microsoft call and cut a good deal for the already planned XP rollout
Being a textbook Red Hat customer could also come in handy, in case Microsoft does not bite.
lucm, indeed.
A SourceForge repository for municipal applications would be great.
the organization currently runs Windows 2000 but will start rolling out XP this year
Hmmmm. We're about to start rolling out Windows XP? That means we need to start price negotiations with Microsoft. Hey! Lets call a reporter and tell them that we are THINKING about switching to Linux. That will undoubtedly get us a better price for our Windows licenses, since Microsoft would love to have the follow up story be "Steamboat Springs chooses Windows after all."
You are almost neglegent as the CIO of a prominent organization/government entity if you don't do the obligitory "I'm thinking of Linux" story before you negotiate for Windows licenses.
Look, dopes.
Just because you two can sit in some air conditioned room and have as many systems as you like, doesn't mean that we all have that luxury...
I own an IT Consulting business, and manufacture IP PBX systems on the side, and I'd like to explain something to you.
All in all, you jokers are simply acting like irrational two year olds. Some people simply don't want to use something other than Windows. It's what they know. Hell, it's what they LIKE. And a systems administrator has to take that into account. It's not that Linux can simply LOOK and ACT similar to Windows that is the decision maker for this guy. He's got to make sure it acts EXACTLY like Windows, or he takes the heat. I count my lucky stars every time one of our customers with a Linux box calls and doesn't tell me that it's crapped itself. I thank my lucky stars that we have a sub 20 minute recovery plan for any Linux system we sell. Because without it, I'd go Quake III some days...
Galen
In your face, and always right!
"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."
Galen
In your face, and always right!
"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."
This particular comment makes no sense. Are you saying that if the city hires someone who is familiar with a different app than the city has standardised on that the city should change? Perhaps you are, and perhaps I actually agree with you on a moments reflection (if so, ignore the no sense comment) but I doubt many would agree with this position.
all the best,
drew
FreeMusicPush If you want to see more Free Music made, listen to Free
If learning to clicky on an icon on a Linux desktop instead of a Windows desktop is an issue, than Steamboat Springs has a lot more problems than just their IT structure. And, if part or their job is learning a new application (based on Linux), than YES, they be forced to use it, or find another job.
Face it, before Windows, people in business and government used ALL SORTS of funky non-GUI hard to use applications, and many still do. What's the big deal about moving to a Linux based desktop? Seriously, people that can't understand RedHat Enterprise WS4 desktop or whatever the latest SuSE offering is, shouldn't be touching computers. This is ***VERY*** simple stuff.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
So let me get this straight. Obviously your clients employ some of the dumbest people on the planet. So stupendously stupid that they can't even figure out how to use their fucking phones. And yet these people happily use windows wihtou ever calling you for support? They are never confused by windows? They never need retrainign when windows goes from 2k to XP to vista?
I call bullshit. I bet those retards working there are constantly getting confused by windows and it's cryptic error messages and mysterious slowdowns, lockups, locked files, re-arranging icons, ever changing taskbars etc.
Lets face it this company is hiring people who are too stupid to understand that a flashing light on a phone means there is a message waiting. They are going to need constant attention from you no matter what you install.
evil is as evil does
Yes, but could you find those OS/2 servers in a small town in Colorado? I bet the town is trolling for Cheap Sysadmins, who will move there for the skiing/mountain-biking, etc. They're not trying to bargain Microsoft down; they're trying to bargain *You* down. "Sure, we only pay $8000/yr, and half of that is in Beaver-pelts, but just check out the skiing!"
the more accurate the calculations became, the more the concepts tended to vanish into thin air. R. S. Mulliken
the organization currently runs Windows 2000 but will start rolling out XP this year) as we don't want to retrain our users
Uh-wha? Even with the classic skin, unless these workstations are completely managed with server policies, the users are going to have to be re-trained on how to do things that are different in XP than in 2000. Never mind where Vista and Office 12 will take them.
They're sure lucky that they started using computers with Windows 2000 because the migration from DOS to Win 3.1 to Win 95 to Win 2K would have been too much for their users - their minds would have exploded!
Or.... maybe their users really are smart and this is just a fallacious excuse.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
"Great! So tell me about all the benefits of switching from Windows to Linux again?"
"............"
What a bunch of hypocrites. Microsoft is rotten through and through, UNTIL you start releasing your own operating system, and then Windows allofasudden becomes the shining perfect pinacle of excellence to be exactly cloned byte for byte. So, in effect, your ONLY real problem with Microsoft was simply that it wasn't YOUR COMPANY. Well, people who think that are just as damned as Bill Gates, with the extra measure of being even WORSE, since Bill never envied anybody else.