[Sussex] Linux market to exceed $35bn by 2008

[Stuart Box]

To pop my head above the parapet here...
> 
> The big problem with putting Linux on the desktop is not that it can't

> be done, it is not that the apps aren't available.  It is the 
> disruption to business while people adapt to the "new order".

I've recently done quite a bit of Linux and OpenOffice training for an
organisation that went over wholly to Linux Desktops and OO.

The main problem was one of perception. Linux and OO are different from
Microsoft in subtle ways.
In many users minds different=wrong, so they came at the software with a
predisposition to dislike it, purely because it wasn't what they knew,
or thought they knew. We had to do a lot of "hearts and minds" training,
explaining why Linux and OO had been chosen, and getting users to open
their minds to change.

Another problem is that everyone thinks they know how to use Microsoft
Applications, in reality very few do. So when they try and apply this
dodgy understanding to a different application, they flounder, and
without help will give up and revert back to Microsoft. Once the users
were trained in the proper use of OO, especially Styles, they liked it,
and most ended up saying they could now do things in OO they couldn't do
in Microsoft.

Finally converting documents from Microsoft to OpenOffice works well, IF
the documents have been created by a knowledgeable Microsoft user.
Unfortunately most Word documents have been created by someone who
doesn't really understand it, and have not used  word tools properly to
achieve their aims. Bulleted and Numbered lists in Word are a good
example, if they're not created properly they won't translate between
different version of Word, let alone between Word and Writer.

If you're really interested take a look at
http://www.openoffice.org/product/studies.html we're the second case
study on the page.

Stuart