[ubuntu-uk] Leaflets [long reply]

[Mark Harrison]

Chris Rowson wrote:
> Hey Nik,
>
> I don't dispute savings in the SME arena mate. But I'm more interested
> in the processes by which large, corporate and public sector
> organisations can save money.
>
> I work in public sector IT, and I feel somewhat like I'm banging my
> head against a brick wall trying to introduce OSS into my workplace.
> I've had some small triumphs, but the noose of MS hangs tight around
> the necks of most corporate IT directors unfortunately....

Chris,

Tell me about it :-)

I found that the strategy that worked for me was to get in the "back 
office systems".

Start with "heavy infrastructure" things like:

- Proxy servers
- Mail relays
- DNS servers

... then move to web servers (which is actually quite a big deal if 
you've already got an ASP site)

... then email servers... (a bigger deal again)

... then the desktop (I've found that a Firefox..... then OpenOffice.org 
... then Thunderbird.... then .... ooh, a Linux desktop, not a Windows 
one) works better that "big bang".


The problem you're up against is that, in a large organisation, the 
software licence costs are typically no more than 10-15% of the IT 
budget... and that the (current) "transfer costs" of switching to a new 
set of support staff / providers can far outweigh the (future) license 
savings.... unless you can hit them at a point where they were about to 
"upgrade" anyway.

M.