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Re: A publicly funded Linux project which cost UK taxpayers half-a-million pounds has flopped.

home.home1@xxxxxxxxxx writes:

> A publicly funded Linux project which cost UK taxpayers half-a-million
> pounds has flopped.

Roy forgot to report this to comp.os.linux.advocacy so that other Linux
migrations might learn from their mistakes,

>
> Birmingham City Council began the project - one of the largest
> public-sector Linux projects in the UK - in May 2005 to evaluate the
> potential of open-source software. The council, the largest local
> authority in the UK, intended to deploy open-source software on 1,500
> PCs in libraries across the city.
>
> But the project has fallen vastly short of expectations, with just 200
> Linux PCs being deployed. Even some of those have been migrated back to
> Windows, council executives have told ZDNet UK.
>
> "We have deployed open source in some libraries. We have worked on the
> basis of 200 PCs. In some cases, we have migrated back to Windows,"
> said Les Timms, project manager at the city council. "1,500 was the
> original plan. It was a figure plucked from the air at the time," Timms
> told ZDNet UK.
>
> Timms said the council had compared the cost of the Linux desktop
> migration with an upgrade to Windows XP, and had found that a Microsoft
> upgrade would be cheaper. Most of the difference was made up of costs
> attributed to "decision making" and "project management", largely
> brought about because of a shortage of skills in open-source networking
> and the changes to IT processes that would result.
>
> The Linux project cost Â534,710, while the equivalent XP upgrade would
> have cost the council Â429,960. There were a range of problems with
> the open-source implementation, Timms said, including desktop
> interfaces and lack of support for removeable drives.
>
> In the light of the findings, the council has taken the decision to
> mothball the project.
>
> Timms has now moved jobs to work for Service Birmingham, a joint
> venture between Birmingham City Council and Capita, which is focusing
> on increasing business efficiency. Responsibility for the day-to-day
> running of the council's IT now rests with transformation chief Glyn
> Evans. Evans told ZDNet UK: "We will continue with a mixed economy
> [Microsoft and open source]." But he warned, "I'm not an open-source
> fanatic."
>
> Birmingham's project was funded through the Â1.3m central
> government-backed Open Source Academy (OSA), which has itself faced
> mixed fortunes.
>
> Although the OSA has supported successful projects such as a
> 5,500-desktop PC project run by Bristol City Council, it has also been
> blighted by criticism. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister withdrew
> its support from the OSA in March after accusations of poor management
> and after its dissemination programme flopped spectacularly.
>
>
>               _______
>            .-""  '.'  ""-.
>          ."      .'.      ".
>        /|         Q         |
>       / |        :|:        |\
>      / /         . .         \"\
>     / /        ,/: :\,        \ "\
>    / /        / (_i_) \        \  "\
>   / /       /"   | |   "\       \   |
>  | /      /"     '-'     "\      \."
>  ||   / |/                 \ \ \  \
>  || ,'-./                   \ |--. |
>  | \    \                    /     |
>  |\ \    |                  |     /
>  \_^-\   \                  |    /
>        \  \                 /   /
>         \  \               /   /
>        __\ \",            /   /__
>       /-  | | \          / / (  -\
>       `~-._`   )        / | -' _.-'shitSuSE  KDE poor man's Windows
> always fucked by Microsoft.
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
>
> 1980s
> There's been a bomb in Oxford Street! And in the
> days before Al'Qaeda, there's only one prime suspect.
> U.S.A sponsoring terrorists as always.
>
>
> The U.S.A has sponsored every terrorist organisation in the world.
> One way or another throughout history the U.S.A as attempted
> to kill you.
>
>
>
> Who's the Governor! You wankers. Keyboard warriors. Put up or shut
> the fuck up.
>
> http://media.putfile.com/On-The-Streets-Of-America-3
> It shows you just how backward  yanks are pathetic fucking yanks.
> ____________________________
> ID signature
> Freedom, if you don't use it you lose it.
> Philip Davidson,
> 10 Ronald Avenue
> West Ham
> E15 3AH
> East London
> Mobile phone 07906821566 
> http://philipdavidson.blogspot.com/
>

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