Slashdot Mirror
OpenOffice Gets a Toe-Hold in The Netherlands
ChristW writes "Several sources in The Netherlands report that the city of Groningen will invest 160.000 euros yearly to switch its 3650 computers to OpenOffice. They are saving 330.000 euros per year by making this switch. The other 170.000 euros will be saved up to use for new Microsoft Office licences if it becomes necessary to renew them. The city plans to renew software every 5 years, as opposed to Microsoft, who 'forces' an upgrade cycle of 3 years. Switching from Windows to Linux is not seen as an option at this point in time, so those licenses will be renewed."
I've always found OpenOffice to be a fairly good alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite. The biggest problem I've run into with it is the fact that OO 1 cannot open documents that were saved in OO 2 format. This was originally an issue here at my university because they took quite a while to migrate to OO 2. All the documents I tried transfering one day to print off in the labs had to be converted back to a format that would open on OO 1, which was a PITA to run on several dozen documents.
As for compatability with Office Documents, I've had some problems when the documents have strange formatting, but it seems to only occur when you try to print out the documents.
I think I speak for every user on Slashdot when I state that I don't care how shitty OpenOffice.org is, as long as it's not made by Microsoft.
'OpenOffice Gets a Toe-Hold in The Netherlands'
Its better than getting toed in the never reqions.
Dutch people care very little about buzzwords and corporate promises.
If something is cheaper and does the same thing our cultural cheapness kicks in and ditches the old crap.
perpetually dwelling in the -1 pits
Open office might actually be the first really usable alternative to the whole windows schema in the cooperate world, right now Thunderbird, Linux, and Firefox (along with big open source themed software) aren't quite compatible with the features that are used all to often in the cooperate world where plugins are developed only for MS products,
With open office there aren't to many critical plugins that are required for every day use in the office (atleast not where I am from) so it might be the first Open Source product do to its ability to save documents and open them in the MS formats that really transitions well
plus being free and until recently without even a whisper of a virus an excellent alternative to the all powerful (and always needed it seems) MS office suite. Now if the gimp could match photoshop in ease of use we might be there
Did someone say cake?
Meanwhile, Paris may put their deployment on hold because the French Ministry of Defense says it falls short in the area of security. Specifically they can get malicious macro code to execute with no user warning. Microsoft Office, on the other hand, annoys you at every chance that a macro will run. Fortunately the lab is actually working with OpenOffice.org to have the issues resolved.
Developers: We can use your help.
because if Open Office does blow up in their face they want to have the money in reserve to go ahead and make the switch back, just a huge backup plan if you will, not about familiarity, just they don't trust open office enough to put all their (what is it "eggs in one basket"?).
Did someone say cake?
About 3 years ago, at work (a Dutch semi-government company) we decided to switch from MS Office to OpenOffice.
Version 1.0.1 was installed on all workstations (before, only part of the workstations had MS Office because it was too expensive).
It was used for about a year, but there were continuing complaints from people who "knew how to work with MS Office and had no time to learn OpenOffice".
Those were often higher-paid employees and external consultants working in the company, and when their claims about lost hours were really true, one could argue that no money was ever saved by switching.
It was decided to go back to MS Office and buy extra licenses for the remainder of the systems.
OpenOffice is still installed, and sometimes it is useful (and used) for things like converting to PDF or repairing documents that make MS Office crash, but it no longer is the generally used package.
This clearly shows the effectiviness of "student licenses" and other pricing schemes: by making sure that the average person "knows how to use Office" (I type it in quotes because I believe the average knowledge of Office features is only skin-deep, maybe "familiar with" is a better description) you can frustrate any attempt to switch to other packages.
I guess the Groningen people will also meet this obstacle.
OpenOffice can be used as a great converter.
For instance, by creating the appropriate routines with your favorite 3G language, one can generate/manipulate existing OpenOffice documents (a set of XML files archived in common ZIP format) to generate reports. Then, using the UNO API, create a simple application that controls an OpenOffice process running in the background, feed it with the manipulated documents and tell it to save in the desired format (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, depending on the type of report). Totally custom, a developer's dream.
Sure, it still needs a bit of improvement. Namely concerning CPU and memory usage, but try to do the above using M$ Products...
There impossible to sea until
Interested in a Flash-based MAME front end? Visit mame.danzbb.com
Maybe I missed it, but I don't see how Microsoft can "force" someone to upgrade after three years. Just because they come out with a new version doesn't mean you have to run out and buy it. If you only want to buy every five years, just buy every five years and ignore the release cycle. Is there something I'm missing?
If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
Actually Microsoft has the worst help system I've had to deal with, and it seems to be getting worse rather than better. I don't know what sort of users they are targeting, but the usability was better in Office 97 than 2000, and Office XP just totally sucks. I feel I'm wasting time, since I can google answers that are actually relevant.
The municipality of Groningen is going to be the first major municipality in the Netherlands to use OpenOffice. This way 330.000 euros will be saved on licencing costs. The council of Groningen agreed yesterdayevening to let the contract with Microsoft for Microsoft Office expire.
The contract with Microsoft for the operatingsystem Windows will be renewed. Groningen counts about 181.000 inhabitants and the municipality itself has about 3650 pc's internally. In Groningen people started investigating the possibilities of using Open Standards and Open Source Software after requests from the council. The reason of this investigation was that they wanted to break the monopoly of large software suppliers and that they didn't want to depend on them for changes to their software.
No switch to Linux
OpenOffice will be installed under Windows in Groningen. From the investigation it became clear that a total switch to an Open platform like Linux currently isn't a viable choice. The municipality does say to strive that workstations in Groningen will run as much software as possible that runs on both Windows and Linux. At a later point in time the switch to Linux would then be easier.
Because they want to avoid the risk of having to ask for general municipality funds if the switch backfires and they want to switch back to Microsoft Office, a large portion (170.000 euros) of the funds will be saved in a "Microsoftlicences" account.
The remainder of the funds (78.450 euros) will be used to form a migrationteam that will start with the preperations of switching to operating-system independent workstations.
This sig is intentionally left blank
Sure. The Telegraaf article:
Groningen migrates to OpenOffice
The Groningen city council is the first large city council to start making use of OpenOffice. In this way, a savings of 330,000 Euro are expected that would otherwise be used to pay license costs. The councillers decided yesterday evening that the contract with Microsoft for the Microsoft Office software suite that has expired in the last month would not be extended.
The contract with Microsoft for the operating system Windows will however be extended. The city Groningen has around 181,000 citizens, and the city council runs around 3650 PCs. A few years ago, [the city council] began a study to determine the feasibility of using Open Standards and Open Source Software. The reason for this study was to break through the monopoly of the large software providers, and that [people wanted programs to become less dependant on that] (?).
Still no migration to Linux
OpenOffice will be installed on Windows in Groningen. The results of the study showed that a complete migration to another open platform such as Linux is not yet possible. The council has recommended that work-places in Groningen should make as much use of software that will run on both Windows and Linux. This would make the migration to Linux easier at a later stage.
Money bags
A large part of the money saved from using OpenOffice will be held in reserve for possible purchases of Microsoft licenses. This is to avoid the risk that the general accounts of the city council will be needed to be used for purchasing licenses for those to refuse to budge from Microsoft Office. The amount of money held in reserve is likely to be around the 170,000 mark.
Another 78,450 Euro will be used to finance a migration team that will prepare for the migration to an operating-system independant workplace.