[Klug-general] answer to my FOI request from Kent County Coucil

Wed Oct 15 09:30:37 UTC 2014

On a side note to this,

I visited Sittingbourne library last week with my laptop running Ubuntu. I
duly got my internet access passcode and proceeded to go online.

I got greeted with a portal from http://kent.anywhere.me/ which on the face
of it looks OK, however you quickly learn it is the devil as it wont allow
you to search in a separate browser tab, only through their portal. This is
the way they make their money and give the service to the library's for
free. Everything else is blocked by web-cat.

I tried for 1 hour to get some work done, yet it was so restricted I was
able to accomplish zero. Simple steps like connecting to gmail to check
email - didn't work, tried browsing for info and it felt like all of the
sites were blocked by their filters. Could not order from my suppliers as
it was classified as shopping, could not use forums as it was classified as
community.

Lastly I couldn't download tor, but hey I guess that might happen ;)
however today when I visit I am ready for it!

So it is worth noting that sometimes its not the fault of Microsoft, it can
be the solution providers that affect the experience.

Gary

On 15 October 2014 10:05, Michael Sinclair <msinclair at mody.me.uk> wrote:

>  Just reading the article pulls up an interesting side link that goes
> back to the Kcc library issue.  The article mentions the European
> Commission service called 'Joinup', Googling finds:
> https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/ a very interesting EU service that seems to
> promote not just Linux but much opensource infrastructure.  Perhaps with or
> through this commission as a powerful backup the library might be willing
> to listen...
>
> Also in response to the problem of running specialised windows and XP
> programs the following excerpt from the story:"Applications that can only
> run on Windows are run within virtual desktops and the town authority also
> keeps 25 PCs for running software used by its Civil Service desk and
> computer-aided design software." - points to CAD
>
> Again the Germans had the upper hand on us as they had started preparing
> for the migration in 2007!  Way before anyone here in the UK had even
> thought about it: management incompetence.
>
>
> On 14/10/14 22:05, Antonio Mendoza Mendoza wrote:
>
>  Hi all
>  Interesting reading too...
> It's not just Munich: Open source gains new ground in Germany
> <http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/its-not-just-munich-open-source-gains-new-ground-in-germany/?tag=nl.e011&s_cid=e011&ttag=e011&ftag=TRE475558a>
>
>
>  [image: image]
> <http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/its-not-just-munich-open-source-gains-new-ground-in-germany/?tag=nl.e011&s_cid=e011&ttag=e011&ftag=TRE475558a>
>
>
>
>
>
>    It's not just Munich: Open source gains new ground in Ge...
> <http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/its-not-just-munich-open-source-gains-new-ground-in-germany/?tag=nl.e011&s_cid=e011&ttag=e011&ftag=TRE475558a>
> Another municipality in Germany makes the switch to open source from
> Microsoft software.
>
>   Ver en www.techrepublic.com
> <http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/european-technology/its-not-just-munich-open-source-gains-new-ground-in-germany/?tag=nl.e011&s_cid=e011&ttag=e011&ftag=TRE475558a>
>  Vista previa por Yahoo
>
>
>    IMHO, I think it is all about commodity, "easyness" and lazyness in
> terms of a "centralised" management and maintenance, as Dan pointed. Also
> due to the lack of knowledge and awareness of other ways to do things.
> On top of that, how the KCC would be able to justify the costs of a
> bespoken software to manage the whole Council they bought a few years ago,
> software that did cost a "fortune" at the time and never worked or did what
> they wanted properly. Sorry, although I remember reading about that in the
> newspapers I cannot remember the source of this, but I remeber it brought
> out quite a discussion as it was a "recesion/crisis" time and they where
> closing centres because they could afford/maintain them.
> When Munich council (among others) and a whole country as Brazil have done
> the step (the brazilian government in a whole and all their administrative
> offices moved to Linux many years ago), why KCC shouldn't be able to do so.
>
>  Regarding end users my sister is quite illiterate in computers or any
> other technical stuff, and she is using in a daily basis my very old laptop
> which is running Linux. She has no problems in logging in, browse the
> internet or accesing files and documents in the system. How long (or how
> expensive) can take to explain an end user how to open a (non-Internet
> explorer) browser or basic IT work if they already know the very basic as
> Windows users. How long can take for a novice to learn the basics when they
> are not still "polluted" by a Microsoft environment.
> I think everything is about lack of interest or personal interests and
> business relationships.
>  Regards
> Antonio.
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *De:* Jonathan Kaye <jdkaye at riseup.net> <jdkaye at riseup.net>
> *Para:* kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
> *Enviado:* Martes 14 de octubre de 2014 21:31
> *Asunto:* Re: [Klug-general] answer to my FOI request from Kent County
> Coucil
>
> Dan Attwood wrote on 14/10/14 17:01:
> > It's about management of those machines as well not just user experience.
> >
> > All the machines in KCC will be windows and they will all be being
> > managed centrally via SCCM and AD.
> >
> > Having of pool of machines that are different would be a pain.
> >
> I'd like to see evidence for this assertion. I'd like to compare it with
> the upheaval of changing from Windows XP to Windows 7.  In point of fact
> all this has been done with not much loss of life as a result. I'd
> really like to hear from admins who have actually gone through the
> change from Windows to Linux as to the level of trauma experiences by
> such a change compared to a Windows "upgrade". If it turns out that
> changing the administrative system is indeed an easier route than so be
> it and lets compare all open source vs. all Windows machines for the
> Kent library system.
>
>
>
> Jonathan
>
>
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