[Gllug] uk gov report on the state of oss

[Richard Cottrill]

I think there's a couple of issues here.

1. You're talking about how things *were*. '...M$ Office was two years
ago...'. Now Office is bigger/more bloated; and more stable. M$ hasn't got
where it is by standing still (credit where credit's due).

2. The Navy has wet ware problems. You guys keep telling me this; but I
think there's a technical/social feedback loop. In this case the military
kiddies love nothing so much as playing with toys (look at all their pretty
boats!!!). I have a fairly low opinion of desk driving military types
following close contact with one or two.

I think this one has little to do with the software. Presentations are
moving more and more towards heavy graphics (I know at least one of the big
5 consulting companies has told its consultants to use photos and movies in
favour of clip art). I expect similar problems would occur for Linux
(although OSS seems to use compulsory compression for some file types).

3. The argument about buying more RAM seems to be buying into the bloat ware
ethos. It doesn't sit comfortably with me.

I would like to see Linux on the desktop; but it's just not mature enough
yet. I think this year the communities should focus on embedded and server
fields; the desktop is big, and generic, and tied to lots of people who
don't like change.

I think the bigger issues at the moment are the meta-products like .Net and
Sun's reply (that I don't recall the name of right now - but who does?). I
don't see a free option/component in either of these two approaches.

My £0.02

Richard

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gllug-admin at linux.co.uk [mailto:gllug-admin at linux.co.uk]On Behalf
> Of Xander D Harkness
> Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2001 11:45 AM
> To: gllug at linux.co.uk
> Subject: RE: [Gllug] uk gov report on the state of oss
>
>
> A lot of people still talk about how Linux is not usable on the desktop.
>
> People used dos and locoscript in the past, they used windows3.1 neither
> of which stopped secretaries typing letters.
>
> The US Navy has found however that Powerpoint seriously degrades
> productivity (with people putting swishy graphics in instead of
> content).
>
> Look at what Corel did to their Linux.  You would turn it on, get to a
> desktop without a password and start browsing or using any of the many
> office programs available.
>
> RAM is now £45 for 512MB at dabs, now tell me star office is a problem.
>
> I do not think that Corel Office is any less stable that M$ Office was
> two years ago, everybody still used it.
>
> This is not me trying to preach to the converted, it is me totally
> misunderstanding why people consider Linux not ready for the desktop ;-)
>
> Have fun.
> Xander
>
> On Wed, 2001-12-19 at 12:26, Paul Brazier wrote:
> > >
> > http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/interoperability/egif_document.asp?docnum=430
> > >
> > > just a small doc to spoil your morning.
> >
> > Just had a scan of this, far from spoiling my morning it looks very
> > encouraging.
> > Although it goes over the strengths and weaknesses of free software, it
> > seems very fair and objective. e.g. not being a serious threat to MS on
> > the desktop until at least the end of 2002 which is probably true, but
> > after 2002...
> >
> >
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