[Nottingham] Linux in the Office.

[Alan Pope]

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 17:56:53 +0100, Michael Leuty <mike at leuty.net> wrote:
> On Tuesday 07 Sep 2004 08:46, Steve Dickman wrote:
> > - people's understandable fear of something new
> > - the misguided impression that they actually know how ms works!
> 
> My task has been made easier by the fact that our network of Win98/Win2k
> PCs is plagued with problems (which I suspect are due to various forms
> of malware, cracking, etc.) The current system is broken, so it's not
> as if I'm trying to impose the solution to a problem that doesn't
> exist.
> 

Most systems I've looked at are more likely to be unstable due to:-

* lack of windows updates
* lack of updates to printer/video/network drivers
* lack of up to date antivirus
* installation of oddball software, left behind.
* not having rebuilt the machines regularly (whether you like it or
not this is a real necessity, especially if none of the previous
conditions have been met)

> > I have every sympathy with the
> > secretaries in the Church deployment being nervous.
> 
> I shall sneak some Valium into their coffee.
> 

I would be very very careful indeed. I converted my wifes PC from XP
to Debian recently. It didn't go too badly from my point of view. For
her (a non-techy - almost non-computer person) it was a bit of a
frustrating nightmare. There were four easily resolveable things that
I didn't do.

1. Plan, plan, plan and plan again. No matter how much you think
you've planned the transition, you'll miss something. Web browser
bookmarks, email address book, documents, whatever they may be.
2. Use a desktop interface that *looks* like windows. yeah yeah, you
and i know it sucks but they don't. They want familiarity - stability
and robustness mean absolutely nothing to a user who can't find the
"shutdown" icon.
3. Rename all the icons to match the program names in windows. Call
Openoffice Writer "word", call Gaim "MSN", call firefox "internet
explorer". It really makes a difference if they can see similar icons
too.
4. Provide active training. Dual booting a machine in the corner of
the room IMO is NOT enough. People won't dual boot it. They'll carry
on using windows and never learn anything. In addition to which when
things go wrong (or different) they wont know what to do to figure out
a resolution. A printed "quick help" card can be invaluable!


Good luck.
Al.