[Klug-general] How does Kent County Council select software?

[Dan Attwood]

**dammit managed to hit send to early grrrr**

end up on here

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/

and lets use know how you get on as myself and I;'m sure many others on the
list would love to know the answers your given.

</rant (I think i might be becoming the new Julia :-))>

On 19 September 2014 09:05, Dan Attwood <danattwood at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bloated
>
> A fresh imaged version of windows 7 will cotain the based os, the browser,
> notepad a caculator and some bit and bobs. Not really what I'd call
> bloated. They probably won't have much more software installed on them
> either.  Given the that the machines are in a public they will also almost
> certainly be creating and destroying user profiles at each login so they
> won't cruft up much over time.
>
> Buggy
>
> I've used windows 7 for about 4 years now full time at work. I've had
> a handful of blue screens and crashes over that time. I've probably had
> ubuntu lock up about as much. This is on machine that runs virtualbox,
> encodes videos, runs full adbobe suite and programming tools and has me
> constantly fiddle with things. On a clean library machine any potential
> bugs will be even less
>
> Virus prone
>
> True but, they will be behind a firewall and internet filtering system
> which will cut out a lot of these problems. They will almost certainly have
> local antivirus on them
>
> Cost
>
> This is a one you really have to be careful on. The cost of the OS is only
> one part of the puzzle. You have to factor in the cost of employing linux
> skilled people and the cost of managing linux maxchines en mass.
> For example we use SCCM here at work to manage around 2000 devices. It
> enables all software installs and updates to be done automatically pushed
> out to machines. the systems that do this for linux (landscape, satellite,
> chef entrpirse etc ) can actually be very expensive by comparison.
>
> As Nathan points out you actually have to point out the cost of user
> acceptance. the first time a member of the public opens a word file in
> libre office and gets back garbage you're' going to meet a lot of
> frustration.
>
>
> I make these points as an ardant Linux fan boy who would love to see more
> Linux being used. Projects like Limux, Udine and the French Police are
> awesome. But if you're going to be approaching the Council about this you
> need to make sure you have very sound reasoning and not just 'Windows is
> rubbish and Linux is awesome' or you will just be pushed aside as a zealot.
>
> Natahn suggestion of putting in a FOI request is a really good one.
>
> you'll fine info here:
>
>
> https://www.gov.uk/make-a-freedom-of-information-request/the-freedom-of-information-act
>
> make the request and any answers also end up on here:
>
>
>
> On 19 September 2014 08:40, Jonathan Kaye <jdkaye at riseup.net> wrote:
>
>>  Dan Attwood wrote on 19/09/14 08:17:
>>
>> ok i'll bite:
>>
>>  " Why someone would buy proprietary software of extremely poor quality"
>>
>>  why is Windows 7 of extremely poor quality?
>>
>>
>>  Bloated, buggy, virus prone. There's extensive documentation on this
>> topic. For a more extensive treatment from a former MS employee I'd suggest *After
>> the Software Wars* by Keith Curtis. I wasn't referring to Windows 7 in
>> particular (sorry if I gave that impression) and perhaps the most obvious
>> objection is the cost. I'm mainly concerned with who makes the decisions
>> about software for publicly funded institutions and what arguments are
>> given for the choice in question.
>> Jonathan
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Kent mailing list
>> Kent at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/kent
>>
>
>
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