[Gllug] It is not Microsoft

[Bernard Peek]

On Thu, 2009-01-08 at 10:12 +0000, Chris Bell wrote:
> Hello,
>    I have been trying to persuade my local Ealing Council to provide help
> for new users of Unix compatible Free Open Source Software, and the only
> real response has been that it is not Microsoft, so no. There is no help
> provided for any other system.
>    I am looking for any previous relevant cases where an organisation such
> as Trading Standards may have become involved.

>From the description that you have given it looks as if nobody is
actually trading, so Trading Standards are not the right people to get
involved.

It appears that the main function of the training suite is to teach
council staff how to use the software that the council has provided for
them. They have agreed to make the facilities available to others
outside business hours, or at times when they aren't being used for
council business. I can see why they aren't prepared to spend additional
time to add capabilities that they don't have any use for (at least for
now.)

What you could do is to try to persuade them that it's in the council's
best interest to let the penguins in. The decision will be made by their
IT department. IT departments really want to get bigger discounts from
suppliers like Microsoft. Newham Council threatened to switch their
desktops to Linux, and Microsoft had to buy the business back with
bigger discounts.

Ealing might be able to do the same if they show the Microsoft rep a
room full of machines proudly showing the Ubuntu logo. I think Ubuntu is
probably the best distro to sow FUD. Get the IT department in Ealing to
talk to Newham to get some tips. 

-- 
bap @shrdlu.com 

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