[Gllug] It is not Microsoft

[Bernard Peek]

On Fri, 2009-01-09 at 12:42 +0000, Jose Luis Martinez wrote:

> >
> > In project-management it's called scope-creep - adding new and unfunded
> > work on top of an existing project. Any halfway competent project
> > manager will stamp that out without a second thought.
> >
> >
> 
> But it seems they are undertaking additional work and risk already,
> the only point they are making is that whatever is taught it should be
> done using the Windows environment available, the reason for this
> attitude is so far eluding me since it is trivial to run Linux without
> disturbing the machines'  Windows infrastructure.

The additional work, to make the suite available to the public, is
already included in their project plan. Any further additions even just
to evaluate the risks of installing Linux are not funded and therefore
represent scope-creep.

> 
> In all honesty I don't understand how they can consider appropriate
> that machines used for council staff are allowed to be used by
> goodness knows who, running Linux from a live distro would actually be
> safer... (slightly, we all can think of ways to damage the hard disk's
> data in a couple of minutes, but a newbie would be highly unlikely to
> do anything, the same can't be said in a Windows environment where
> curious newbies would bring their own media with goodness knows what,
> thus putting at risk the integrity of the machines).

You and I know that there is no risk in running Linux from a live CD.
The people who are running this project don't have our specialist
knowledge. Gaining that knowledge will require time and money. Unless
someone agrees to allocate a budget for that there is very little chance
of the council considering whether to install Linux on these machines.
The council needs to be persuaded that they will get a return on the
money it will cost to carry out an investigation.

The decision-makers in the council will carry out a cost/benefit
analyis. They need to be persuaded that the costs are low and the
benefits are high. So far they are not persuaded.

-- 
bap @shrdlu.com 

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug