Upper management wanted to do away with payment of licenses so they
asked me to introduce FOSS. Cost savings were around 20,000 pesos per
machine. We had around 10 or so machines so that translated to about
200,000. Since these machines were supposed to be running win98, which
isn't available anymore from MS, we did not need to upgrade any
hardware except for RAM. That's more savings. Management was pretty
happy.
This was probably during the raid scare. This always catches the attention of management. It would be good though if the solution is presented to the organization and have the majority of the organization approve the move. One organization that we recently assisted did this and it helped ease resistance.
>Was training part of the migration or was it an implement and "hope
they use it" approach?
We trainned the people who needed to use it. Both for OO and Linux.
Training is really an important part of any migration. We were lucky to have been able to migrate some clients without training but now I believe it should be a mandatory part of any migration project.
>What distro did you use?
We started with RH9, then jumped to FC5.
We use Ubuntu or CentOS now. The interface is simpler and the support is good. The FCs require too many updates.
>How long before did it take for them to ask you to reverse the migration?
A little over two weeks.
Sayang. This was probably the peak of the resistance. If you found ways to ease the resistance at this time then perhaps you could have succeeded. Some model resistance in a U curve. If you can get past the peak resistance will eventaully die down. Ofcourse there are many factors that can influence this. It really depends on the kind of resistance and the counter strategy that you apply to quell the resistance.
>If you are to do the project all over again what would you change in
the process?
I would use more "change-management" techniques than simply
"evangelizing" the virtues of Linux and OO. Getting people PREPARED
for change allows them to see the learning period as a minor
annoyance, rather than as an earth-shattering experience.
Yeah. I have learned that as well.
Besides by using the undeclared tactic of "allowing" piracy by not
apprehending small time violators, MS actually furthers the sale of
their products because employees of big firms will refuse to use
anything but MS products. And if these big firms don't buy a license,
the NBI swoops down on them.
As FOSS providers we really should partner with the BSA, they can help us. FOSS simply can not compete with pirated proprietary solutions. ; )
Holden
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