As I threatened already to take up this thread... here comes a first one, which touches two salient points: viability of non-M$ OSs and applications, and free alternatives to M$ apps in the "business" environment. -hc
--------------------quote:-------------- -----Original Message----- From: Don Cameron [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: July 29, 2002 7:23 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [CI] On-line collaboration - WikiWiki WikiWorld.com Hi all, Leading from Jim's post on the concept of Wiki's (which is an excellent on-line collaborative framework)... The implementation of Microsoft's new licensing arrangements is only days away (July 31st), and many businesses and community groups, possibly tens of thousands world-wide, are currently revaluating software requirements and investigating alternatives to Microsoft's new 'buy before you try' licensing options. Over the past few weeks I have spoken with dozens of local companies to find out who are, and who are not adopting the new Microsoft software license... and to date I have yet to find one company willing to part with tens (or possibly hundreds) of thousands of dollars on the off-chance that: a) Microsoft 'might' develop a new upgrade within the contractual period, and b) that even if they do, that this will be something the company requires under business growth and development projections. Linux evangelists will of course tell us the answer is easy... (and Mac evangelists will do anything to try and resurrect the Mac as a viable desktop alternative), however the answer to the problem of ever escalating application software overheads is not as simple as tossing Windows in the trash and installing Linux or a Mac. Both these platforms suffer from a lack of suitable business applications (although Microsoft continues to support the Mac with MS Office albeit grudgingly and at the cost of Macintosh agreeing to scrap the Apple media player), and Linux is still far too 'geeky' for the average desktop user (one day RedHat and Gnome will realise that the 'foot' and other paraphernalia are not welcomed by the average business user who prefers quality business-looking graphics on a computer desktop) ... plus the cost of retraining desktop users to Linux is still far higher than the cost of purchasing additional Windows licenses, especially considering that nowadays computer bundling packages usually provide the Windows OS for free... plus sticking with Windows ensures that IT Administrators (we who sign the purchase orders), remain free of all the cultural and system redesign hassles inherent in rolling-out a new desktop OS. The problem with Windows (and the reason Bill is attempting to get us all to pay for possible software upgrades upfront), is the cost of traditional desktop applications like MS Office, Project and VB etc. These are significantly more expensive than the host operating systems, and are the reason many organisations are finding that software overheads are now an insurmountable burden. So what alternatives are available? Knowing the date was fast approaching where we would need to make a few firm decisions on our future direction, over the past two years my company has evaluated 462 Windows freeware programs for workplace suitability. The assessment criteria included: The ability of the software to replicate the required features of commercial alternatives; reliability; ease-of-use (usually through offering similar features and interface to the program they would potentially replace); a lack of spyware, trojans and viri; code quality, compatibility with existing systems and competitors products, and; (hopefully) able to offer improvements and benefits over commercial alternatives. >From this analysis, thirty-two freeware programs passed and were selected for implementation in our (400 employee strong) workplace. The programs include alternatives for: Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) Project Access Outlook SQL Server Exchange Server Proxy Server Visual Basic Crystal Reports Adobe Acrobat Writer IBM Via-Voice (text-to-speech reader for disabled staff) VET Virus Scanner XP Pro (the only advantage we saw in this product were the Firewall features) In addition we found suitable alternatives for our SCADA and CMMS systems; Network protocol analyser, as well as for our open-access network audit and administration tools. We have found the freeware alternatives to offer (at least) equal productivity gains and reliabilities, and they have provided very substantial cost savings when bundled with the systems generically provided with the Windows desktop OS (communications tools, web browser, paint and calculator etc.), and native Windows Servers. If anyone would like a list of these programs including where you can download them (URL's) and the commercial programs they have replaced, please let me know off-list. Rgds, Don -------------------unquote.------------- To unsubscribe from SURVPC send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe SURVPC in the body of the message. Also, trim this footer from any quoted replies. More info can be found at; http://www.softcon.com/archives/SURVPC.html
