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Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Exactly what I argued when I first saw this...
>
> Criticism mounts over Birmingham's Linux project
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Several industry watchers have voiced their concerns about the project,
>| particularly around the number of PCs rolled out. Birmingham's expenditure
>| averaged over £2,500 per PC.
You need to understand local council thinking when you look at such
numbers. They have huge budgets which they collect through local
taxation. They have zero incentive to cut those budgets, instead, they
look to spend as much money as they can. This makes them very popular
with local contracts, with many of those business owners having close
links into councils, but also means that they can continue to justify
having huge amounts of cash incoming, from local residents.
>|
>| "That's ridiculous," said Eddie Bleasdale, the owner of open-source
>| consultancy NetProject and an early participant in the project. "It's
>| an unbelievable cock-up... They decided to do it all themselves,
>| without expertise in the area," he added, saying that a lack of
>| skills in open source and secure desktops would undoubtedly have
>| raised costs.
Costs will only be raised until training is completed, of course, but
it's quite correct that not seeking the proper expertise is not smart.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| Mark Taylor, whose Open Source Consortium also exited the project
>| in the early stages, said: "I have no idea how anyone could spend
>| half a million pounds on 200 desktops, running free software".
It's a council... it's endemic in their culture.
>|
>| Asked by ZDNet UK whether he was surprised that an XP upgrade was
>| calculated as cheaper than the Linux project, Taylor said, "If it's
>| done properly, that can't happen. It's amazing that anyone can spend
>| that much on [Linux] project management." Taylor added that there
>| are plenty of open-source skills in the Birmingham area which could
>| have been utilised.
> `----
>
> http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39284758,00.htm
>
>
> Related:
>
> LiMux The Penguin: Deep into Munich's Linux F/OSS migration
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
>| Munich's Linux migration has been a publicity frenzy, a
>| software patent poster child, and the subject of a debate
>| on the role of government in technology mandates. Now it's
>| a real-life IT project, and the key to success is training,
>| management, and replacing 170 non-Linux applications.
>|
>| [...]
>|
>| Now, after enormous criticism and a nearly complete halt,
>| it's becoming a successful migration if for very important
>| reasons: it's going well, quietly, and on plan.
> `---- ^^^^^^^
>
> http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2006/110606-munich-linux.html
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
-- Hunter S. Thompson
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|
