[NBLUG/talk] The Wall.... is coming down...

[ME]

I'm writing this from a perspective of having been a system administrator
and support coordinator for a state government entity (University)
supporting about 100 employees, and services for thousands of people.

What you suggest is a very large task. I was paid full time to support
various systems and users with questions in person. Trying to resolve
problems in e-mail takes about 4 times longer (or more) than in person. We
are also a volunteer organization with people offering "free time" to
fellow users. In addition, I would doubt that many of us speak german well
enough to discuss technical problems and resolutions with the people who
would be there in person.

Now I am working 20-30 hours per week, taking CS Courses and trying to
help my peers keep NBLUG running while occasionally responding to e-mail.
I know I won't have time to lend support to employees of the city
government of Munich unless I drop something else in my life. My choices
to sell my car, quit my old job, move to a place that was cheaper and
alter my lifestyle were included so that I could return to school. Work is
required to pay for my food, shelter and clothing.

You may want to consider heading a team of people to work on exactly what
you describe. If you can find enough people at NBLUG, you may want to
consider building a team of people who would like to contribute their free
time.

-ME

Paul Larkin said:
> Realizing that this may sound a little presumptuous, condescending
> and all that negative stuff on first sight, (but it isn't):  It seems
> to me that the big task will be to keep the Munich users and MIS (or
> whatever it's called) satisfied so that when it's time to review how
> Linux has done, and renew any contracts, they are more than happy to
> stay with Linux. There will be bugs, it's different than Windows, and
> it's a change. I think NBLUG should make itself known to Munich, to
> offer to answer any users' questions the group could.  An added
> positive would be the contrast such an offer would be, compared to
> what our current "elected" administration is doing to endear us all
> to the rest of the world.
>
> On 5/28/03, Mark Street wrote:
>>All right, so it isn't Berlin.......  No wonder Ballmer sold off a
>> billion
>>worth of MS stock last week.
>>
>>Microsoft Loses City of Munich Deal to Linux
>>Wed May 28, 2003 12:38 PM ET
>>By Hans Nagl
>>
>>MUNICH (Reuters) - The city of Munich said on Wednesday it would switch
>> 14,000
>>computers from Microsoft's Windows operating system to rival Linux in a
>> deal
>>estimated to be worth tens of millions of euros.
>>
>>The decision is a blow to U.S. giant Microsoft, whose chief executive
>> Steve
>>Ballmer had personally campaigned for Microsoft's counter-offer to the
>> city,
>>based on Windows XP.
>>
>>Microsoft has created two funds to discount its products against the
>> emerging
>>Linux software, which is eating into its most profitable business.
>>
>>"This strategic decision makes Munich less dependent on one IT supplier
>> and
>>sets a trend toward more competition," Munich mayor Christian Ude said in
>> a
>>statement.
>>
>>Analysts said Munich's decision to choose open source software, which
>> means
>>Linux, was a breakthrough.
>>
>>"It is one of the largest desktop migrations to Linux ever seen," said
>> Gartner
>>Dataquest analyst Nikos Drakos in London.
>>
>>Linux suppliers welcomed the move by of one of Germany's largest cities,
>> where
>>many of the country's biggest corporations have their headquarters.
>>
>>"You can compare this to the fall of the Berlin Wall," said Richard
>> Seibt,
>>Chief Executive of Linux software provider Suse. Suse is bidding for the
>>Linux contract together with International Business Machines Corp.
>>
>>Linux is considered by many to be the only big rival to Microsoft's
>> Windows
>>and can already be found on 15 percent of all computers sold in Western
>>Europe.
>>
>>A Microsoft spokesman in Munich said his company was still at hand if the
>> city
>>found that certain units could not switch over to Linux. "Some
>> applications
>>do not run on Linux," he said.
>>
>>LINUX GROWING IN GERMANY
>>
>>The Munich decision comes as the German government is installing Linux
>>throughout certain ministries and public institutions.
>>
>>In the northern state of Lower Saxony, 11,000 police computers will be
>>switched from Microsoft Windows to Linux from next year, according to the
>>interior ministry.
>>
>>Companies and governments are increasingly opting for Linux, written by
>> Linus
>>Torvalds and further developed on the Web with the help of thousands of
>>volunteer programmers, because it is a stable software and not controlled
>> by
>>just one company.
>>
>>Hundreds of companies distribute the software, charging little or nothing
>> for
>>the core software, but taking fees on modifications, services and
>>maintenance.
>>
>>IBM and Suse declined to give the value of the bids for their Linux
>> offerings.
>>
>>Media have reported that Microsoft's offer of about 27.3 million euros
>> ($32.3
>>million) had been almost three million euros below that of the Linux
>>competitor, but the city had still chosen Linux for strategic reasons.
>>
>>Microsoft confirmed it had offered discounts for the total project, but
>>declined to give details.
>>--
>>Mark Street, D.C.
>>Red Hat Certified Engineer
>>Cert# 807302251406074
>>--
>>Key fingerprint = 3949 39E4 6317 7C3C 023E  2B1F 6FB3 06E7 D109 56C0
>>GPG key http://www.streetchiro.com/pubkey.asc
>>
>>_______________________________________________
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>
>
> --
> Paul
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