They moved from Windows NT to Linux in 2006. No wonder it reduced complaints. I'd be far more interested in a migration from Win 7 or Win XP to Linux.
"Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
41–50 of 141 posts
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. The FOSS office tools are simply not in the same class as Microsoft Office. Anyone who has worked extensively with Excel will acknowledge there really is no true competitor out there. Frankly, I would go so far as to say that a Linux desktop OS is really only appropriate for enthusiasts or those with minimal needs (e.g. email). For just about anyone else, there is simply too much potential hassle involved in…
Frankly, I would say just the opposite. If your needs are minimal, go with windows. If you need more, linux is a good choice. You will never get a decent terminal in windows or good support for some programming languages (such as python). You are right with Excel although. However, much of the "power" of Excel is really just needed because people are overusing it. Stop making "databases" out of Excel sheets and imple…
[deleted]
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#43With 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…
You seem to neglect the fact Office users routinely experience problems with their own documents and programs. Who never had a Word document that, after some heavy editing, refused to load? I have, many times, since the first version of Word for Windows. I've abandoned Office between 2002 and 2008 and, to my surprise, I still had those problems with Word, Project and Outlook (when I had to clean PST files more than once).
At least with Outlook I solved the problem backing up via IMAP to my own server, who kept the mailbox in a very easy to manage maildir folder. The usual Office workaround - opening with OpenOffice and saving back to Office format - never worked for me after 2008 and backups had to be used.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. The FOSS office tools are simply not in the same class as Microsoft Office. Anyone who has worked extensively with Excel will acknowledge there really is no true competitor out there. Frankly, I would go so far as to say that a Linux desktop OS is really only appropriate for enthusiasts or those with minimal needs (e.g. email). For just about anyone else, there is simply too much potential hassle involved in…
Frankly, I would say just the opposite. If your needs are minimal, go with windows. If you need more, linux is a good choice. You will never get a decent terminal in windows or good support for some programming languages (such as python). You are right with Excel although. However, much of the "power" of Excel is really just needed because people are overusing it. Stop making "databases" out of Excel sheets and imple…
I did state that Linux was appropriate for enthusiasts as well as those with minimal needs.
The reason I feel Linux to be appropriate for novices with bare-minimal needs, is that when operating within very narrow constraints the most popular Linux distros are both efficient and safe. For basic functionality, the price can't be beat.
However, hassles really do begin to manifest themselves once users begin to really engage their PC in any number of ways. The vast majority of PC users fall into this category. In other words, they have non-minimal needs but are neither enthusiasts nor developers or otherwise employed in IT full time.
WiFi, external displays, software limitations (e.g. video editing) are only a small number of issues that can and will manifest themselves. For the vast majority of PC users, this constitutes an unacceptable hassle.
Enthusiasts, on the other hand, know what they need and how to fix the above if necessary. I personally think OSX is a superior choice. I value productivity, and don't consider (for instance) mucking around in xorgs to be a good use of my time. However, I respect and understand those who choose *Nix over OSX.
edit : Can one of those who felt this was worthy of downvotes explain what they felt was factually inaccurate?
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. The FOSS office tools are simply not in the same class as Microsoft Office. Anyone who has worked extensively with Excel will acknowledge there really is no true competitor out there. Frankly, I would go so far as to say that a Linux desktop OS is really only appropriate for enthusiasts or those with minimal needs (e.g. email). For just about anyone else, there is simply too much potential hassle involved in…
Frankly, I would say just the opposite. If your needs are minimal, go with windows. If you need more, linux is a good choice. You will never get a decent terminal in windows or good support for some programming languages (such as python). You are right with Excel although. However, much of the "power" of Excel is really just needed because people are overusing it. Stop making "databases" out of Excel sheets and imple…
Sorry, but LibreOffice (on OSX at least) has been horrendous for me. When scrolling, cells get repainted in adjacent cells, borders don't show up... There are so many display-related bugs that the entire program was rendered completely useless for me. It has nothing to do with making "databases" out of spreadsheets (I was only using 30 rows!), and everything to do with crappy, buggy interface code.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
> and if you want 100% Office comapatability for work by a PC.
I also wanted her to be safe from viruses and malware. I think her time is well worth the price difference.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
And much more expensive :-) and if you want 100% Office comapatability for work by a PC.
Could you show how a DELL or HP is much cheaper? I did a calculation in 2006, comparing a Lenovo T60p to a MacBook Pro, it was roughly the same. Things did not change since then to my knowledge. http://codemonkeyism.com/the-recent-lenovo-vs-apple-discussi...
And don't forget to factor in the anti-malware package, the extra gigabyte of memory it'll take, the beefier processor it will demand and the beefier battery you'll need to run the whole thing.
No. The Mac is cheaper in the end.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
If you really want it, doesn't linux run windows applications in some compatibility mode? Wine?
Linux is definitely cheaper than Apple.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#49With 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…
Most civil servants use Excel more than Word, and I think that scalc is way easier to use than Excel, precisely because it doesn't try to be helpful. Excel has so many stupid rules about auto-correct and special paste that I just can't get what I need to done.
Word is still better than swriter, but not by a margin that I care about, and the fact that I have one-click PDF generation by default is a pretty killer feature, in my eyes.
Re: "Linux switch saved city millions and reduced user complaints"
#50"[...] €2.08 million (£1.73 million) for optimisation and test management that ended up on the balance of the LiMux project [...]" Does anyone know details of this? Any ideas on what type of "optimisation" was done?
Lived in Munich for a good while so I know some of it. Most of the optimization and test went on working with documents. They had a lot of excel/doc stuff which was programmed in VB so they had to migrate, reproduce and test them in OpenOffice ( well, now LibreOffice ). Rest went in intregration and desktop.
I recommend reading this: http://joinup.ec.europa.eu/software/studies/declaration-inde...