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"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

computerworlduk.com

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Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#21

Post by ttt_ »

ajuc wrote: post #11
vibrunazo wrote: post #4

On a parallel anecdote. Installing Ubuntu on my parents PC sure did reduce the amount of assistance they needed from me with crashes and malware. I'd recommend it to anyone who needs to spend some time helping non-tech friends with computer problems :)

My parents use my old PC with Athlon 2000 and 512 MB RAM, I've instaled last Kubuntu with KDE 3.5 a few years ago, and never needed to touch it since then :) The only problem so far is - once a year they need to use free windows-only application, that doesn't run in WINE, to calculate taxes. They just go to neighborns for a few hours. My sister also has Kubuntu on her laptop, but she knows how to update it, so I don'…

Interestingly, as more government entities adopt linux and foss in general, they have a lot more incentive to provide support for that. So maybe in a couple years these government-issued software will target linux distros.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#22

Post by jamesgeck0 »

rbanffy wrote: post #12
dagw wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same thing on my mothers laptop a couple of years ago, but switched back to Windows a few month later after far too many complaints of "I can't view this document/power point someone emailed me" and "people can't view the document/power point I e-mailed them".

Interesting... My mom seems perfectly happy with LibreOffice. I also set her up with Gmail, so she can view the PowerPoint files without launching LO.

The formatting itn't always preserved perfectly when going back and forth with presentations. Text moves or runs off the bottom of the slide, etc.

Also need to make sure to explain about file formats, or chances are pretty good that they'll try to send a LibreOffice file to a MS Office user.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#23

Post by skrebbel »

With these kinds of `hooray linux´ articles, I always wonder whether they included the cost of reduced productivity they included when moving everybody from MS Office to LibreOffice and stuff like that. The difference in quality, stability and features is pretty big. I've worked with LibreOffice only for about 8 months, and I can tell you, it's not just a matter of "getting used to". There's simply a whole bunch of bugs (layout screwing up in Writer, Ctrl+Z not perfectly going back to the previous state, etc) and limitations. The time wasted fighting these tools costs a lot as well.

Take 12000 civil servants losing one hour a week on fighting the tools, and you get to 11.7 million pretty fast.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#24

Post by mjwalshe »

rbanffy wrote: post #16
maarty wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agree. I Installed Ubuntu to my girlsfrind and it was running 1 year without destruction. On the other hand I've taken away administration priviledges from my dads windows 7 and its holding pretty well ...

For my wife, I advised a move to Mac. She needed perfect MS Office compatibility for professional reasons and the computers are much prettier.

And much more expensive :-) and if you want 100% Office comapatability for work by a PC.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#25

Post by jimktrains2 »

skrebbel wrote: post #23

With these kinds of `hooray linux´ articles, I always wonder whether they included the cost of reduced productivity they included when moving everybody from MS Office to LibreOffice and stuff like that. The difference in quality, stability and features is pretty big. I've worked with LibreOffice only for about 8 months, and I can tell you, it's not just a matter of "getting used to". There's simply a whole bunch of b…

I get layout screw-ups between versions of word, especially mac->win and vice versa.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#26

Post by mjdwitt »

jamesgeck0 wrote: post #22
rbanffy wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting... My mom seems perfectly happy with LibreOffice. I also set her up with Gmail, so she can view the PowerPoint files without launching LO.

The formatting itn't always preserved perfectly when going back and forth with presentations. Text moves or runs off the bottom of the slide, etc. Also need to make sure to explain about file formats, or chances are pretty good that they'll try to send a LibreOffice file to a MS Office user.

Office can open Open Document types pretty much universally. More complex formatting is generally screwed up though, just as it is when opening MS types in LibreOffice.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#27

Post by ajuc »

ttt_ wrote: post #21
ajuc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents use my old PC with Athlon 2000 and 512 MB RAM, I've instaled last Kubuntu with KDE 3.5 a few years ago, and never needed to touch it since then :) The only problem so far is - once a year they need to use free windows-only application, that doesn't run in WINE, to calculate taxes. They just go to neighborns for a few hours. My sister also has Kubuntu on her laptop, but she knows how to update it, so I don'…

Interestingly, as more government entities adopt linux and foss in general, they have a lot more incentive to provide support for that. So maybe in a couple years these government-issued software will target linux distros.

In this case this isn't government-issued software. It's just some free(as in beer) software attached to law newspaper. They attach it each year with updated forms and formulas to calculate tax.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#28

Post by click170 »

pingswept wrote: post #7

The subheading of the linked article, "Monthly IT complaints dropped from 70 to a maximum of 4" is contradicted in the article text. The text of the article says that the "maximum number of complaints" per month dropped from 70 to 46, not 4. (Also, the maximum number of complaints is irrelevant, but I guess complaining here about people not understanding statistics is pointless.)

Looks like a very-likely spelling mistake, someone probably just forgot to type the 6.

Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"

#29

Post by FreshCode »

It would be interesting to measure the number of complaints that were based on experimentation due to users' familiarity with Windows. Since the LiMux environment is probably more restrictive, is it possible some folks just gave up on some features, e.g. "How do I attach my Excel doc to an email?" because there is no Excel, for example. It's great that they are saving the tax-payer , though.
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