Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
On 31 July 2013 22:03, Muñiz Piniella, Andrés wrote: > > Goverment has bigger contacts with huge service companies and those can > still be broken. > I avoided commenting until now, but realistically any UK Government contract is locked down to one of the normal "preferred bidders" precisely due to its huge value. Whether Serco, Capita, G4S, PwC, ..., a contract of any value will be handed out, I mean, put out for procurement, to one of those companies that have ex-Ministers, ex-advisers, and ex-officers on board (or on Board). It's the way things have always been done - there was a piece highlighted from a newspaper from (around) 1900 outlining concerns about a "revolving door" between Whitehall and companies and interest groups. It's bloody depressing - but on a lighter note, there are at least some places trying. From Slashdot earlier today: "Around a year ago, a school in the southeast of England, Westcliff High School for Girls Academy (WHSG), began switching its student-facing computers to Linux, with KDE providing the desktop software. The school's Network Manager, Malcolm Moore, contacted us at the time. Now, a year on, he got in touch again to let us know how he and the students find life in a world without Windows." And they didn't even meet much resistance: "Younger students accept it as normal. Older students can be a little less flexible. There are still a few that are of the view that I can get rid of Microsoft Word when I can pry it from them. Staff are the same (although it is surprisingly not age-related). Some are OK and some hate it. Having said that, an equal number hate Windows 7 and nobody liked Windows 8. I think the basic problem is that Windows XP is a victim of its own success. It works fairly well from a user point of view, it's been around practically forever, and people don't like change, even some students, oddly." http://linux.slashdot.org/story/13/07/31/1645240/a-year-of-linux-desktop-at-westcliff-high-school The answer seems to be to start local and not worry about global, because global is never going to happen until all the local has shifted (unless you're in Munich). J -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
El 31/07/2013 22:15, "Bill B." escribió: > > On Wed, 2013-07-31 at 22:03 +0100, Muñiz Piniella, Andrés wrote: > > About training: At the end all most of what people use is a web > > browser. > > http://www.xkcd.com/934/ > > I think you'll find office environments have slightly different > considerations & ideas on that! Fair enough. But it is the common denominator accross the different offices. all they need is for their normal software package to be used in gnu/linux: and there is always an alternative or wine. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
On Wed, 2013-07-31 at 22:03 +0100, Muñiz Piniella, Andrés wrote: > About training: At the end all most of what people use is a web > browser. > http://www.xkcd.com/934/ I think you'll find office environments have slightly different considerations & ideas on that! -- Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
El 31/07/2013 21:29, "SuperEngineer" escribió: > > On Wed, 2013-07-31 at 20:42 +0100, Pete wrote: > > I guess most if not everyone out there know that Governments use > > Windows > > XP (Uk Gov't) and that it costs quite a huge amount to pay in bulk > > licenses, including local councils. Does anyone know how much these > > bulk > > licenses cost and how many the UK Gov't have? > > Realistically, no government, council or borough would consider > switching without support. Their choice of system would therefore be > only those with pro support contracts [which includes Ubuntu/Canonical > who do provide this vital item]... plus the training costs. This is > still a win over repeated MS contracts & licenses. > [and the "this isn't what we were taught in school" syndrome] > > So who out there can convince them the two things they keep missing are > common senses and real budgetary skills. > -- > Bill B. [SuperEngineer] > I seem to have a more positive view: I did email my mp via the http://www.writetothem.com/ website. He is enviormentally driven so I focused on the amount of computers that go to skips. He forward my concerns to treasury. Also contacted the head of arts and culture to see if gnu/linux could be used in libraries. Via twitter. He said they are keeping an eye on it. Bottom line if you feel strongly about it, tell your MP. http://www.writetothem.com/ About training: At the end all most of what people use is a web browser. http://www.xkcd.com/934/ If there is interest the economics of it changes: more support companies will show their heads demonstrating with bigger and bigger companies making tbe switch. E.g. Munich claims it saved 10 million euros on the switch. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LiMux HP tried to say there was no savings or that there were loses but last I knew they could not hold their claim. Goverment has bigger contacts with huge service companies and those can still be broken. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
On Wed, 2013-07-31 at 20:42 +0100, Pete wrote: > I guess most if not everyone out there know that Governments use > Windows > XP (Uk Gov't) and that it costs quite a huge amount to pay in bulk > licenses, including local councils. Does anyone know how much these > bulk > licenses cost and how many the UK Gov't have? Realistically, no government, council or borough would consider switching without support. Their choice of system would therefore be only those with pro support contracts [which includes Ubuntu/Canonical who do provide this vital item]... plus the training costs. This is still a win over repeated MS contracts & licenses. [and the "this isn't what we were taught in school" syndrome] So who out there can convince them the two things they keep missing are common senses and real budgetary skills. -- Bill B. [SuperEngineer] -- -Registered Linux User 523667- -Registered Ubuntu User 32366- -Free as in Freedom-- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think
On the face of it the use of a GNU/Linux-based OS in place of Windows ought to be attractive. Unfortunately, things are not quite so simple. The amount the government (national and local) pays to Microsoft per seat, for both OS and applications, is minisule, compared to what you or I would expect to pay as individuals. This is a deliberate ploy by Microsoft precisely to counter the issue of cost advantage when considering alternative software suppliers. Compared to the actual cost of reconfiguring every server (many thousands) and desktop (hundreds of thousands), the savings would not be worth it. On top of that, of course, is the fact that there have been so many IT disasters in government departments, both publicised and unpublicised, that there is simply no stomach for such a fundamental change. It's bad enough when departments perform upgrades withing their existing architecture. If you were to ask public servants how confident they would be of a smooth migration to an entirely new OS, I think you'd be struggling to find any at all. Nige > Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 20:42:54 +0100 > From: Pete > To: UK Ubuntu Talk > Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you > think.. > Message-ID: > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"; Format="flowed" > > I guess most if not everyone out there know that Governments use Windows > XP (Uk Gov't) and that it costs quite a huge amount to pay in bulk > licenses, including local councils. Does anyone know how much these bulk > licenses cost and how many the UK Gov't have? > > Well, onto the main reason I am posting - I have sent an email to my > local MP to look into using a Linux based OS instead of Windows as they > wont need to pay for licenses which will presumably save hundreds of > thousands. > > Why not send an email to your local MP or the MP that deals with the IT > or whoever it is that does. > > What's your thoughts on this? > > * -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
On Wed, Jul 31, 2013 at 8:42 PM, Pete wrote: > I guess most if not everyone out there know that Governments use Windows > XP (Uk Gov't) and that it costs quite a huge amount to pay in bulk licenses, > including local councils. Does anyone know how much these bulk licenses > cost and how many the UK Gov't have? > > Hi Pete I know from first hand experience that the UK Government (DWP - Department of Work and Pensions) pays for their IT via a lease to HP. A desktop machine is £70 per month, and a laptop is £80 per month. Software is maintained by HP, and a standard package of software (Email, Office and Internet Explorer 6) are delivered as standard. Users can request more software, and this is approved via their line management chain, but the prices are fixed by HP, and are not open to outside bidders. Hope this helps. Les Pounder -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
Re: [ubuntu-uk] Has anybody seen this and what do you think......
I guess most if not everyone out there know that Governments use Windows XP (Uk Gov't) and that it costs quite a huge amount to pay in bulk licenses, including local councils. Does anyone know how much these bulk licenses cost and how many the UK Gov't have? Well, onto the main reason I am posting - I have sent an email to my local MP to look into using a Linux based OS instead of Windows as they wont need to pay for licenses which will presumably save hundreds of thousands. Why not send an email to your local MP or the MP that deals with the IT or whoever it is that does. What's your thoughts on this? On 29/07/13 20:13, Paul Sutton wrote: On 29/07/13 19:42, scoundrel50a wrote: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/mi6-and-mi5-refuse-to-use-lenovo-computers-over-claims-chinese-company-makes-them-vulnerable-to-hacking-says-report-8737072.html I had not but i read to day that the same company is being used for this porn filter the government want implemented, Paul -- -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
