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Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 11:33:14 +1000
From: Serge Rey <serge at rohan.sdsu.edu>
To: general at lists.humbug.org.au
Subject: Re: [H-GEN] Linux Workstation - Windows replacement
Message-ID: <20011002113314.A283 at typhoon.sdsu.edu>
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On Tue, Oct 02, 2001 at 10:04:53AM +1000, Frank Brand wrote:
> For those of you who might not read Slashdot in some detail, I include the
> following response regarding larger Linux installations.
>=20
> To me, this is significanf for at least 2 reasons:-
>=20
> 1. The guy is working in a *NIX organisation and is not a Microsoft
> apologist, he seems to have some degree of decent knowledge about differe=
nt
> OS's.
>=20
> 2. I am about to make up a demo Linux box (an AMD 400/ 20 Gb HDD/256 Mb R=
AM)
> to put into a MS based organisation so they can see how Linux might work.=
 I
> will use Mandrake 8.1 and try GNOME/KDE and various office solutions. A
> major sticking point (as I have indicated in previous posts and this guy
> makes the same point too) is the browser. For E-commerce and accounting w=
ork
> etc. the browsers available for Linux are unsuitable. I have not tried
> Mozilla 0.94 but I will give that a shot and see if it can perform better.

give opera a look for a browser. i guess lynx, links and company are out
of the question.
>=20
> Constructive comments regarding alternatives would be welcomed - eg re mo=
st
> suitable distro, office software, browsers etc. The company involved is a
> hard nut to crack, they couldn't give a shit what they use but it has to
> measure up in usability with the MS systems they use now - by usability I

usability is a relative concept. the non-tech users in the example were
no doubt weened on MS, and hence that is all they know. i'd wager that
if they were weened on a linux box, they'd have the same negative
response to being plopped down infront of a windows box.

> mean ease of doing things, speed of response. No use saying but Linux off=
ers
> security advantages blah, blah...these are not servers but simply
> workstations that hardly ever fall over with blue screens, they contain no
> sensitive data (this is held on the servers) and if there is a problem th=
ey
> can reinstall everything in an hour (but this has never happened).

what i would stress is that they are interested in avoiding the endless
microsoft upgrade cycles and associated costs. those have a huge
significance in the long term that would probably swamp the very short
term costs of retraining non-technical employees to use a linux box.=20


--=20
Sergio J. Rey	http://typhoon.sdsu.edu/rey.html
GPG fingerprint =3D  16DB 4934 E0F1 B386 AE81  D379 914C 33E5 F690 95DF
To follow foolish precdents, and wink with both our eyes, is easier
than to think.                - William Cowper

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