Slashdot Mirror
French Parliament To Go Open Source
dhoyte writes, "Newsfactor.com reports that next June the French parliament will be switching from Microsoft to open source products such as Linux for desktops and servers and OpenOffice for day-to-day documents. They see it as a cost-cutting measure." The French have not settled on a Linux distribution yet. The article quotes an analyst voicing a note of caution: "'The evidence on the cost savings attributable to a switch to Linux has been mixed,' according to Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis at research group NPD. 'There has been some evidence that companies have to spend a good deal on training and support after you deploy...'"
It's childish of me to do this but I recall posting this story five days ago.
There is a little bit of new information for this submission, however, so hopefully we can read the childish jokes on the other submission and cut right to the actual discussion here?
eldavojohn
queen of the karma whores
(hence the AC post)
It'll probably Mandriva. Isn't that a French company anyway?
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
Although I am a little bit skeptical about news that states large organisations will be switching to open source. I recall similar a story in Australia, in which Telstra (IIRC) was going to switch to Linux until M$ offered them below normal pricing.
A game has objectives and is competitive, anything else is just play
'There has been some evidence that companies have to spend a good deal on training and support after you deploy...'"
Nonsense! Linux is so easy to use you can take it out of the box and plug it in. And be working that same day.
Even if that is what happens, it's not necessarily a bad thing. It would directly mean less revenue for Microsoft. Even if it's one relatively small deal in the whole scheme of things, it's still better that they don't get that extra money.
...must be a nexus point in the Matrix, déjà vu seems to happen quite often around here.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
I'm sick of hearing about retraining as being a reason not to change to Linux. The facts are that you're going to have to retrain everyone when you're forced to upgrade anyways. The big difference being that your Linux rollout will cost less, and provide future savings in the form of not having to upgrade and retrain for the next big change in an MS Office menu.
Under the influence of Post-Cyberpunk Gonzo Journalism
Can anybody get some estimates of the cost of training and support for a recent majour MS Office update? I figure that that should be somewhere near the cost of a switch...
FOI request anybody?
Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
It seems to me that money spent on education tends to pay off all around especially when that education teaches people how to do things without being locked to a certain vendor. Education passes from one person to another whereas buying commercial software locks you to that vendor and is not allowed to pass from person to person. Even if the costs are identical the opensource solution empowers the user more than a commercial solution.
My experience though is that if the tasks you need to do can be done using opensource you will save quite a bit of money. If there are rough spots you need fixed you can spend a little bit of money to hire, or sponsor, an existing developer of that project to make things work the way you need. For what you could spend to buy a few licenses of your average commercial app you could have the opensource equivilant customized to your needs. That is power over your own fate. How much is that worth over years or decades?
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
As Stallman explained at WSIS, if we argue based on cost, they can offer that too, but if we argue based on freedom, they're not even in the running.
Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
You owe me a new scarcasm meter.
spoonerize "magic trackpad"
The French have not settled on a Linux distribution yet.
Translation: We want to see what Microsoft's counteroffer will be; if it's too low, we'll state we're picking Ubuntu, and if Microsoft still hasn't given a huge keep-me deal, we'll say we probably want Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
[
"The facts are that you're going to have to retrain everyone when you're forced to upgrade anyways"
You do realize that for most companies retraining doesn't mean "starting from scratch". How much preexisting knowledge and skills will cross-over to a Linux installation? Or will that be a "from scratch" issue?
I find it a bit ironic that the linked site contains micro$oft advertisments!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The French are always wrong, does this mean that open source is NOT the way to go for governments?
As a user and supporter of open source I find myself confused and not knowing what to think.
This is like as if AOL, a known evil, made something good.
I just don't know.
No socialist is in power in France, even though that may change next year. This decision was actually taken by the right wing of the political compass.
~~~ Paf. Le chien.
Oh my god am I tired of this argument... some people seem to have very little grasp over "long term" and "short term" savings.
"It's different! It's hard to learn! Therefore it can't be good for us in the long run..."
Some people have no vision.
The path of least resistance is to switch pure functionality servers first. Things that provide services like DNS, DHCP, and NTP. The Linux machines can also hold the file shares even if Windows is still serving the directory. Anyhoo, you start simple and work up slowly on those.
On the desktops, deploy FOSS apps one at a time as dependencies allow. Even Office is tough if a lot of bespoke apps laying around use it as a development environment. Sneak up on that as long as you can too. Once the users are broken in on FOSS app replacements, begin switching the OS for those users you've managed to get using purely FOSS apps. Move up through the users from there. The last and most difficult cases can be handled with virtual machines and terminal servers.
If things are done this way rather than in one fell swoop then you avoid a user rebellions with great missing chunks of missing functionality amidst the kludges. You can also try things out first with the users who have a bit of clue and build up experience within the organization. Most of the negative Linux organization switch stories I've heard involved either the Fell Swoop approach or not having sufficient Linux/BSD/UNIX admin talent on hand.
Everybody cares about money.
A strict subset cares about freedom, and they're probably already running Linux.
I think the real trick is convincing people that freedom itself is worth real money. Yes, switching will cost you, but then, next time Microsoft says "You will buy Vista.", you don't have to. When you have this software that does X but you need it to do X+1, you can make it happen by hiring people, and there is nobody to tell you no. Presumably if you care about X+1 it comes down to "because it will save you money".
Arguing in pure freedom terms will shoot over many people's heads.
You will spend as much, if not more, on retraining if you roll out Windows Vista and Office 2007.
As for support, raise your hand if you honestly think that, somehow this time, this release of a brand-new version of Windows will be any less of a disaster than all of the previous brand-new versions of Windows...
Schwab
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
VI surrenders.
Task Mangler
In soviet russia, the chair throws YOU.
Then you don't even know you've changed.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If posting as an AC implies BS, what should we make of you?
If you are American then you owe your very freedom to the French.
a n_Revolutionary_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France_in_the_Americ
Honestly, what company ever actually does ANY training that you're aware of?
Certainly none that I've ever worked for.
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Now that's the spirit! Now how many here want to learn Lisp, Flex, XML, and AJAX? Uh, huh. Thought so. Gung-ho about getting rid of those "roadblocks", until you're the "roadblock". Thank God for outsourcing.
I think governments just say that so M$ lowers their price...
Someone needs to sew your lips to your asshole.
I'm sure a large part of the reason that people don't care about software freedom is because they don't know it exists. If we could explain to them that open source software is not only free as in beer, but as in freedom as well, then they would probably agree with us. Tell them about how they're allowed to modify and redistribute open source software, but they might not care. Then tell them the true advantages of open source. Microsoft could discontinue support for all their old Microsoft Offfice formats in their next version, and there wouldn't be a thing we could do about it. If OpenOffice also scrapped all old formats, there would still be hope. Not only are there many other open source (and some closed source) programs that could handle the open formats, but we could go back through old source code to gain an understanding of OpenDocument (or any other open format in OpenOffice) and implement it in another program. For that matter, OpenDocument is just a specially organized zip file (I think so at least, but I know it's some compressed format.), so we could simply extract it and see the original document in plain text. Now that's open. You don't have to be that technical in explaining it, but I think you get the point.
Currently on the front page:
Linux: French Parliament To Go Open Source
and immediately below that:
Your Rights Online: Barney Surrenders To the EFF
I know there is a joke in there somewhere, but I lack the skill to find it.
"You will spend as much, if not more, on retraining if you roll out Windows Vista and Office 2007."
Well seeing as both really aren't out (betas nonwithstanding). You're not really saying anything. But then this is slashdot and we all have an agenda to boost so you'll do it anyway.
Isn't it obvious, anytime a large corporation or entity states they are switching to Linux/FOSS and states a main reason of saving money, is merely screaming from the top of their lungs, 'Hey Microsoft, give us some free software or we're gonna switch!'
No one ever really switches. Microsoft gives them tons of free software everytime. French Parliament doesn't want to pay the money to upgrade everyone to Vista, so instead they are playing a tactical rouillette game, in which they will win because regardless of who it is and how weak they are, Microsoft doesn't want a single hi-profile entity to actually switch to Linux and will willingly 'give' them the free software, not that it actually costs Microsoft anything, but they can then write it off as well as a charitable donation... blah blah blah.
"A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular" --Adlai Stevenson
> Getting someone to use OOo doesn't make it one bit easier to switch from Win32 to Linux on the desktop.
Oh hell yes it does, especially in an organization. If all of an organization's data is in Office format that organization will probably stay on Windows. Crossover Office ain't going to cut it (Office license + CX Office license and forget getting a sweet deal on the Office licensing) and neither will OO.o's import filters. First time a document doesn't work 100% in the initial testing a MS fanboy (MCSE type afraid of learning) will raise holy hell.
Get everyone off of Office and IE first and swapping out the underlying OS is a lot easier. Remember, people don't run an OS they run applications.
Democrat delenda est
I use OSS tools to produce a custom POS for my clients. it runs on freebsd. so yes. "works with all standard point of sale software" - sorry chump there's no such thing. but you did do a good job of making it sound involved, you even named serveral things twice. in the real world there's no software out there does everything your suggesting. it simply does not exist. "Yeah, thought so." - next time hold off on finishing other peoples replies, now you just look like a cock.
what the French and Barney have in common..
surrendering to the EFF!
if we argue based on cost, they can offer that too, but if we argue based on freedom, they're not even in the running
Depends what you mean by freedom. For a lot of people, it's the freedom to walk in to work on Monday morning knowing an upgraded desktop is waiting for you... and already knowing how to use it and the apps that run on it. Essentially, the freedom to dive right in a get your work done. The vast majority of people don't give a rat's ass about the freedom to modify their operating system and pass it along as a new distro. They just want it to do the things they want it to do. Splitting hairs over licensing concepts that are meaningless to most users (and most especially the ones that drive the pressure on their department heads to procure new systems) doesn't really put this conversation into the "freedom" arena.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Oh nooo Bill is going to loose so much money :)
French parliament - where is that, Modesto?
Like all of the other large rollouts that get announced to great fanfare and then get abandoned to even greater press releases, white papers and case studies, Microsoft will go in and make em an offer they won't refuse.
That's how i would feel about such an announcement in general. But it's now a couple years in France that the police switched to Open Office, and more recently, the tax office underwent the transition. There might be more administrations, but i don't know about them, having no insiders. The parliament switch looks like a continuation, not some brand new announcement. The french state has *already* started to switch to an open solution.
This post is awesome.
A strict subset cares about freedom, and they're probably already running Linux.
Or they're the kind of people used to looking at the bigger picture and beyond the next quarterly results, such as, say, governments?
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
even with the most cheap shit POS setup you are not going to license it for less then $150 per terminal. your suggesting you can do it for $80 per terminal? stop the lies kthxbai
If you need more than ten minutes to get your bearings around KDE/OpenOffice as a former Windows/Office user, you probably shouldn't be in the workforce at all.
Seriously: what is this training?
Learning how to move files by drag 'n drop?
Learning how to start a program by navigating the start menu?
Because I can't believe that every user needs to know how to mount a device in the file system, or configure IPchains, or connect to servers manually, or whatever.
Given the strong anti-American sentiment that is rooted deep within (almost) all levels of the French society it is to wonder why France has stuck with Windows for so long. But as the word slowly spreads out there (that there's a "French" OS capable of doing everything windows do) i'm anticipating a massive transision to linux of the majority of the French public sector.
My gallery: www.estiasis.com/modules.php?name=gallery2&g2_ite
" Last time I checked, the only other two mainstream Linux distributions that have all of those advantages are SuSE Linux (Novell) and Red Hat Linux."
For, me PCLinuxOS, a Mandriva derivative, is my thing now that I can use Win4Lin kernel 2.6.8.1 without my system locking up....
Maybe. But, I recently hit the wall with tiring and trying to get Mdv 2005, 2006 *and* 2007 to run stably or at all the Win4Lin 2.6.8.1 kernel. I for what, now 2 years, was stuck on Mdk/Mdv 10.1. I couldn't even go to 10.2. At least not the "free" versions. I'm unemployed and cannot anymore afford to drop $80 to $199 on PowerPack like I used to before and just after Feb 2001. Now, I by chance, decided to take for a whirl two of the latest distros Linux Format put on the Issue #86:
With my Linux Pro User DVD of 2006, my DVD device sometimes just would NOT spin the disk, and sometimes only cold boot would see the disk spin and offer its menu. That kind of intermittent harassment meant I could not rely on the disk for later troubleshooting, even though the contents were copied to disk during the initial install. But, desperately wanted the latest KDE has to offer
Gentoo and PCLinuxOS. Gentoo went boo-boo by freezing up or something that I allowed only about 10 minutes for. I started to toss the disk to the pile of other disks and stopped to spin PCLinuxOS. I am very thrilled that PCLinuxOS exists. They have the drakconf and diskdrake, as well as KDE. Best of all is Synaptic, which I am finding works like my brain wants it to vs packagedrake (which IS good, but for me, getting to mirrors under Free has been next to impossible, causing me to go to PLF and rpmfind and such...) and kpackage, which I also still like. I learned of Synaptic even before trying Ubunto 6.06 LTS, and when I saw it in use by my hand, I then had yet aNOTHER reason to scratch the itch to get the latest Mandriva distro.
Under Mdv 10.2 on forward, I could not run 2.6.8.1 by Win4Lin, and I have no need whatsoEVER to upgrade to nor any remote interest in giving up money for bloatware, appsless XP in my 256 MB box. I sure don't have any interest in running XP native either. And I am not buying Virtual Server, since I'm not a business with virtualization needs. Win98 gives me what I need: a space to run Lotus SmartSuite. I use SmartSuite for Approach and for for Word Pro. They give me what I will probably NEVER in my lifetime see OO.o finally get round to offering. Anyway, 2006 and 2007 would just LOCK UP once I entered win &. Lock up HARD, forcing reboots.
I installed PCLinuxOS, and at first I met failure, but then I was plying through Synaptic to d/l other stuff unrelated at all to Win4Lin or windoze. Later, after a reboot, (I did get the w4l license stage completed, and even rebooted maybe 2 times, and still nothing...) whalaa, suddenly Win4Lin RAN. It's been fairly stable, Win4Lin AND PCLinuxOS and Lotus SmartSuite. When I get back to work, I will DEFINITELY send PCLinuxOS at least $50. I sincerely hope that neither Mandriva nor Win4Lin causes any problems for PCLinuxOS, because at least a few dozen users out there are in EXACTLY my scenario:
Re-effing-FUSE to touch XP, and therefore have no economic reason to use Win4Lin Pro or Virtual Desktop.
PCLinuxOS helped me drag my baseline up from 2004 to 2006+. I feel INCREDIBLY fortunate for PCLinuxOS, and this just goes to show that distributors and devs and Linux mags publishers are some REALLY kewl and praiseworthy people, helping people help themselves.
As for "free" Mdv versions, the hog-tied desktop and minimalist screen savers put a crimp in the "cool demo" abilities. It makes it hard to "show off" Mandriva to would-be Linux adoptees, meaning showing off Linux using ANOTHER distro when I wanted to show off Mandriva. So, I also hate having to remember how to restore the user icons to the login screen and remove the "free" background that is forced upon users of "free".
Since 2001 or so, whenEVER I toyed around with Samba, trying to get windoze 98 to see Linux
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
my guess would be that they chose open source software
because it's just more democratic, it's software by the people
for the people
closed source software is software by a company for their clients!
This strikes me as a purely political move.
... someday.
I'll admit, I'm skeptical about anything done in a county that has riots when the government tries to pass a law that would allow employers to fire unproductive employees, but maybe that's just me.
Yes, we're going to get away from the evil American MS and save money somehow. Ok guys, now get to work right away. We need it finished
Even from a taxpayer's point of view, I would say it's not even the most relevant. I find thoroughly unacceptable to be forced to use proprietary tools to access Public Administration's services.
Imagine a tax return form in docx format to download, fill in, submit. I'd need Word 2007 to do that. Would it be fair? Do you think this scenario is so far from reality?
Information exchange with citizens must rely on public domain tools. Best (I believe only) way to attain this: public authorities must go open source. Period.
By the way, if the Queen of England had copyright on English language, I'd likely be writing this in Esperanto ...
No they're not. The election is not until next year.
THere's no such thing as "standard point of sale hardware". They *all* have different protocols. Commercial POS software tends to only support a tiny fraction of the hardware on the market, so generally when buying a POS system - you'll look at the software that does what you want THEN select hardware that works with it.
The nearest thing there is to a standard for the hardware is at the signalling level - it's generally all still RS-232, or if it's USB, it's USB set up as an RS-232 USB device (or if you're unlucky, USB set up as a HID generating keyboard input). The protocols used by the hardware are pretty simple though - for example, most barcode scanners just spit out the data in ASCII and that's that. Cash drawers are often not directly connected to the computer, but connected to the receipt printer - and you tell the printer to pop the draw open.
Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
I think the most important thing around here is that community behind Linux OS will have to listen to their requests. I'm sure there is a Linux enthusiast behind this idea not only TCO. I'm sure they need a custom software for parliament too. If you really want this project to succeed we will have to listen to what they say and help them with what they need to get this project running.So if I have to make a point here...don't just fight about who is right and who is wrong but help this "guy" to make it work.
anyone took seriously would convert to Linux this would be meaningful...
Maybe it is just be, but I never seen a single effort to migrate to FOSS, based only on cost cuts, that succeeded.
From my experience (and yes, it will reduce costs), if you don't have any other reason for it, you won't have enough force to breach the number of barriers on the way of such migration.
Unfortunately, "fixed mindset" is something very difficult to counter. And, like it or not, Microsoft is very good on the mindset terrain. People will complain, make a mess, and create overall havoc, up to a point where however is making the migration will just decide it is really not worth it.
I have witnessed very successful moves toward FOSS in the past. The catch is that in all of them, there were other reasons (major or minor) for the move. Sometimes, even things like "openness" is enough to offset the scales and allow the move to be successful.
morcego
and security.
I still find it a little surprising that any large non-US organization, particularly governments, run non-open software. It's basically just baring their throat to Uncle Sam and M$. A stupid thing to do, particularly when national security is involved.
Those billions that non-US organization might spend on military hardware and/or competing commercially could easily be hobbled if the US government or M$ decided to sniff, corrupt or shutdown the computers that the non-US organization thought they controlled. With history like ECHELON and SIGINT in general, and the US' general "we are powerful, therefore we must be right" attitude, it's not a leap to assume the US has covert operations going on. This is just too easy and too cheap.
Even if the M$ didn't want to cooperate the US government could force them secretly to do so. M$ being a good US corporate citizen they'd probably be happy to cooperate though.
It would not surprise me if this is one of the drivers for TC, making sure the "owner" of the PC doesn't actually have control, even theoretically. The proliferation of botnets and viruses would be convenient cover too.
You can be damn sure that in the name of anti-terrorism and/or anti-pedophilia the US government and M$ have a deniable backdoor in every network connected M$Windows computer on earth. Possibly in the common Linux distributions that are not third party audited too.
They probably don't use the back door much because of the danger of being network sniffed but encrypted and embedded in Microsoft Update on selected PC's there'd be no problem. How sure are you that your computer isn't phoning home with everything you type?
---
Open source software is everything that closed source software is. Plus the source is available.
So are the yanks going to start calling it Freedom Source now?
What is basically happening, through the de facto requirement to use proprietary software, is that ability to do business with almost anyone is contingent upon the use of Microsoft software. That is already a sub-optimal situation with which we should think seriously about dealing. But when Governments start making individuals dependent upon Microsoft to read public documents and submit necessary forms, compliance with the Law of the Land will have been privatised. And that is absolutely unacceptable.
Je fume. Tu fumes. Nous fûmes!
In the real world there's no software out there does everything your suggesting.
Yet again, more FUD from the OSS camp...
Of course there is. I can run right down to any office supply store and buy a copy of it. Come on troll. You didn't even try.
Maybe you are intentionally lying so that your customers don't decide to save themselves a metric assload of money and buy this or something like it off of the shelf...?
Here's another one.. Do you sell your product for less than $525?
Asshole.
This is just the French we're talking about here. It's not like it's a group of people that matter. No one gets all exited when the Lancaster PA Bridge club goes OSS and they have a greater impact on society as a whole.
Really, have any of these government or large business entities ever actually followed through once they've announced that they're switching to Linux? The usual drill is that $government emits a "Switching to Linux" message which in turn leads to Microsoft descending upon them with tidings of huge discounts. Then $government quietly announces that they changed their mind and are sticking with Microsoft. Announcing that you're switching to Linux just happens to be the fastest way to make that happen these days.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
``The French have not settled on a Linux distribution yet.''
Well, same advice as always. Try them all for a few upgrade cycles, then decide.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
"creation of an administrative authority empowered with the ability to prohibit the publication of free software accessing protected works"
"What does the new French copyright bill do ?"
davecb5620@gmail.com
All governments from Iowa to New Guinea are able to lower
software costs.
Threaten to go open source!
1.) M$FT pays attention and lowers license fees dramatically to keep it from happening.
2.) Make good on threat and do not pay M$ST.
This is why investors are realizing M$FT has little long term potential to maintain that
gravy train.
Win for sure in your local, state or federal level, announce loudly (unless of course
you have already switched or got the sweet deal) away from M$FT is coming publicly.
Louder the better and remember to include your trend setting ways so that M$FT
has to listen and be very afraid!
Post your story on how much your government entitity is paying for M$FT each
year here, it is a matter of public record in most governments, unlike private
business where it can be kept secret.
It will be interesting to see a ratio of per capita government license cost
versus local per capita wealth in the locality or country. These schemes
usually reveal discontinuities based or related to competence. Also,
fees are a way to get kick back monies into some officials or politicians hands.
Hmmm... please post those per capita numbers, and actual license fee costs
per seat here.
Duh!
http://www.aisnota.com/slashdot/ Welcome to Logic and the Future
One man's joke-- another man's flamebait.
Still... it had to be said.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
Cheese-eating surrend... oh, wait ....
Yay! Good for our French friends.
Go France, rah! rah! rah!
As Microsoft's paid independent analysts pointed out, the software (licenses) part of the IT budget is not huge, so switching to FOSS because the software costs nothing will give you mixed TCO results.
The real payoff comes when you hire *french programmers to build and support the customized Mandriva. Their incomes get taxed by you, their purchases are generally from native businesses, etc.
FOSS for governments is such a big win that I'm astonished more haven't already switched.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
"The 2% who have VBA mactros and such will need more hand-holding. But it's certain that an upgrade to Vista would cause a lot of grief for them too"
Why is that "certain"? Please let me know.
"If it weren't for the USA, you'd all be speaking German right now."
The French provided critical assistance in the American Revolution against England. If it weren't for the French, you'd be speaking English.
OTOH Linux, as you say, can start working on the same day, unless, of course, you start the installation less than ten minutes before midnight, in which case it won't be working until the next day.
Oracle aren't biting on that one. We give them millions (literally) in licence fees, six figures a year in support alone.
We had a new system that we could use MySQL or Oracle for. We went to the Oracle guy, said to him that we thought his product was better, that we wanted to use his product, and that if all he could do was match the price of MySQL (very non-zero, especially including support) we'd buy his product.
He quoted three times the price. We went MySQL.
Posted anonymously because this is kind of confidential info
For just $1600? Of course not. But like any other company I can split that cost among multiple clients. Besides apps of that nature already exist as OSS and they're no worse than the crappy commercial equivilants out there. Not that I think much of them. I've spent a lot of time writing my own software to these purposes but I have no plan to release the software, under opensource or proprietary license, anytime in the future because I don't want to bother supporting it.
I didn't tell you to pray for unrealistic miracles. If you want new apps written from scratch you'll either have to pony up some major cash or motivate someone to do the work for you some other way. You can have major bits of custom work done on most opensource apps for your $1600 though.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
The National Security Agency (if you do not know whom are they, imagine the closest thing to a Thug/club bouncer/Mafia officer, yet working for the US Gov. & armed with a huge computer) They switched to Linux, and furthermore, they developed their own security enhanced Linux patch, and they made it available for free download, with over 4000 levels of security. What is the big deal of another government agency, outside the US, switching to Linux?
...etc) Set the links once, then startx and DOUBLE CLICK ON THE ICON to launch my web browser, my OpenOffice.org, my Gaim, my MPlayer, my Imendio Planner, my GnuCash, my Evolution, my GTKam, my Kpilot, let Nautilus CD burner burn my cd's, and continue with my life, smoothly and relaxed, not fearing any viruses or big brother catching me without a lisence, or worry about paying half of my weekly pay check for something I'll use for two hours per year.
I have been a slackware user for ten years now. I do not work in IT, and chances are, I won't any time soon (No certifications or computer degree) but I do not need to use dd, mkisofs, grep, cat, mail, telnet, pwd, lp, make, awk and related, or even vim or emacs, only once a month. I USE linux, not administer it. Download what I need, install it with whatever it is packed at (tar ball, RPM, rar, zip,
Just navigate your way in, and you'll be fine.
Games? answer is three letters: P S 2. subject closed.
Linux is just another OS, same old story. Do you want to tell me that you will lose your way on OS X? Linux is now far past the old hardcore image that existed ten years ago.
For God's sake, installing Mandriva or Ubunto today, in comparison to installing Slack, or plan 9 (where the F!@# is my tty driver?) ten years ago, is like getting away with murder.
Sorry for the guys that have been complaining about Linux installation in their companies, but, I am a waiter, just a waiter. I am as stupid as a janitor, yet can run slack fine, and enjoy it, and help others run it.
So you; the computer science grad, the certified, the resident in a massive IT room, the one who has the free trainning through your company, the one working in the IT career, the one who have access to all kinds of hardware to try all kinds of stuff, cannot run Linux? please, give me a break. I feel bad enough already.
One final thought; Linux is "poor man's OS & server". Why are the French moving to it, instead of going with SUN? If the intention is to go UNIX, then why not go huge and wild? I don't get it. Anyone have an idea?