A recent study of Linux on the desktop suggests that cost is not always the motivating factor in migrating, although it was the most common. Other factors included increased security and decreased ongoing maintenance and support costs.
"The new report “Linux on the Desktop: Lessons from Mainstream Business Adoption,” conducted by Freeform Dynamics and sponsored by IBM, showed that Linux desktops were easier to implement than IT staff expected if they targeted the right groups of users, such as general professional users, who have moderate and predictable use of e-mail and office tools."
The report suggests that deployments should be performed based on objective targetting. Rolling out Linux desktops to transaction workers and general professional users is going to create less back lash and resistance to the change in operating software than it would to the more creative, power and mobile professionals.
The report suggests running two operating system platforms (Windows and Linux) would provide the best mix of cost savings and end users acceptance and satisfaction.
I agree with the overall outcomes of the report and have been thinking really hard on a business case which would gain approval and motivate the CEO.....time will tell on that one :-/
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Australian NSW computer in schools program
After reading the recent article on the AustralianIT website, I had some thoughts and questions on the decisions which have been made.
Now I know there would many reasons why the decision to go wtih Microsoft and Adobe have been made for the NSW school laptop program (hopefully not for Govt kickback $$). But I would like to pose a question. Why not Linux and open source software in general?
The obvious first point is cost $27 million in licensing vs $0. That has to bare some weight right? To move on to some other technical points though...
Wouldn't any forward thinking body, and hopefuly that is what we have as a government in general, be aware of emering technologies and techniques and that the software delivery model (talking cloud and SaaS) is almost at a "Tipping Point". The software community/business model is changing and even the largest internation companies including Sun, Oracle, IBM and Novell are all leaning towards using Linux and open source as the platform and methodology of choice.
While these corporations still continue to charge for enterprise support and maintenance (usually an option is to also run with the unsupported and more *bleeding edge* versions) they are basing their business models on open source software technologies and solutions.
So to put a 6 year old operating system with a completely proprietary graphics suite and office suite together in a bundle to the fastest adopting and quickest learning minds in the country is a bit, dare I say it backwards, to say the least?
Why not position the schools and students in a position to learn with and use the latest technologies in an open arena (which has to be better for educational methodologies) and provide a set of open and standards compliant graphics and office suites which are going to move into more mainstream use in the very near future.
WIth the latest Linux distributions on offer there are a vast array of security and management tools available which provide more than adequate facilities for mass deployment on this scale. The bundled software is of such high standard and quality that is rivals and oftern surpasses that of the few proprietary applications which will be preinstalled and shipped with the selected laptops. There is also the added advantage of the huge repository of other open source applications and developers which can be installed/deployed easily.
So my question is to the powers that be and solutions providers who have made this decision, why, and can you please justify (and I will accept a logical answer to this question) why you have not gone with a predominantly open source solution for the NSW schools laptop program?
Now I know there would many reasons why the decision to go wtih Microsoft and Adobe have been made for the NSW school laptop program (hopefully not for Govt kickback $$). But I would like to pose a question. Why not Linux and open source software in general?
The obvious first point is cost $27 million in licensing vs $0. That has to bare some weight right? To move on to some other technical points though...
Wouldn't any forward thinking body, and hopefuly that is what we have as a government in general, be aware of emering technologies and techniques and that the software delivery model (talking cloud and SaaS) is almost at a "Tipping Point". The software community/business model is changing and even the largest internation companies including Sun, Oracle, IBM and Novell are all leaning towards using Linux and open source as the platform and methodology of choice.
While these corporations still continue to charge for enterprise support and maintenance (usually an option is to also run with the unsupported and more *bleeding edge* versions) they are basing their business models on open source software technologies and solutions.
So to put a 6 year old operating system with a completely proprietary graphics suite and office suite together in a bundle to the fastest adopting and quickest learning minds in the country is a bit, dare I say it backwards, to say the least?
Why not position the schools and students in a position to learn with and use the latest technologies in an open arena (which has to be better for educational methodologies) and provide a set of open and standards compliant graphics and office suites which are going to move into more mainstream use in the very near future.
WIth the latest Linux distributions on offer there are a vast array of security and management tools available which provide more than adequate facilities for mass deployment on this scale. The bundled software is of such high standard and quality that is rivals and oftern surpasses that of the few proprietary applications which will be preinstalled and shipped with the selected laptops. There is also the added advantage of the huge repository of other open source applications and developers which can be installed/deployed easily.
So my question is to the powers that be and solutions providers who have made this decision, why, and can you please justify (and I will accept a logical answer to this question) why you have not gone with a predominantly open source solution for the NSW schools laptop program?
Tuesday, 20 January 2009
New Arrival...
Little bit off topic from my normal post and I am going to adjust the categories to reflect a change in postings this year, but first things first.
We are very happy to welcome Andrew Jai Manning to the world. Weighing in at 4.21 kgs (9lb 4oz), 52cm long and 36cm head diameter - he is little bundle of joy number 3 for us!
Cathy and he are doing well after a natural birth (albeit long painful and drawn out) and his 2 elder siblings are besotted with their new little brother.
Some photos are up on our Flickr stream. Short and sweet - that is all for now.
PS - this is a repost after moving the site :(
We are very happy to welcome Andrew Jai Manning to the world. Weighing in at 4.21 kgs (9lb 4oz), 52cm long and 36cm head diameter - he is little bundle of joy number 3 for us!
Cathy and he are doing well after a natural birth (albeit long painful and drawn out) and his 2 elder siblings are besotted with their new little brother.
Some photos are up on our Flickr stream. Short and sweet - that is all for now.
PS - this is a repost after moving the site :(
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