Very sad.
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| salparadise Nov 13, 2006 10:43 PM EDT |
This is the city I live in.
If you knew the damage that has been done to OSS in this city you'd weep. Notice that it's management that screwed this up. Cheaper to upgrade to XP than to change to Linux due to half a million quid being spent on the end deployment of 200 pc's. This is beyond shameful. I have met a couple of the people involved. The chap who made the decision went with SuSE 9.3 (ugh!) and consequently they had lots of problems, particularly with floppy's and USB sticks. And yes, Open Source has indeed been seen to be the problem. The attitude is basically that, poor management aside, if the technology really worked that it would speak for itself. And the fact that most of the UK Gov websites only work with IE on Windows and that a fair proportion of the documents and e-gov forms that the very council holding this trial sends out also don't work with OpenSource is of no significance. The fact that resistance to change is ingrained and almost impossible to get round is not considered. Birmingham was supposed to be the "Open Source Center of Excellence for the UK" - what a joke. I could say a lot more, I know where some of the the bodies are buried, but it's just too depressing to even think about. |
| dcparris Nov 14, 2006 4:24 AM EDT |
I do wish you'd write an article about it. I might add credence to your photo on the team page. ;-) |
| salparadise Nov 14, 2006 5:30 AM EDT |
A fair and, under the circumstances, reasonable remark. I'll have a go. |
| robntina Nov 14, 2006 7:17 AM EDT |
For the money they spent they could have had Novell themselves come in and do the whole thing for them. |
| number6x Nov 14, 2006 9:07 AM EDT |
The BBC has a project for its Archived data that was done in free software. I saw the talk at the Ruby on Rails Conference back in June, 2006. The project was hugely impressive, especially in regard to the cost savings and the small number of staff used to pull it off. Its still in Beta, but an interesting site: http://weblog.rubyonrails.com/2005/10/31/bbc-is-using-rails-... http://www.hackdiary.com/archives/000071.html So some people across the pond "get it". |
| dcparris Nov 14, 2006 1:32 PM EDT |
> A fair and, under the circumstances, reasonable remark. I was trying to be humorous about it. Seems you kind of took it that way. >I'll have a go. Thanks! |
| tuxchick Nov 14, 2006 1:54 PM EDT |
Credence! http://www.creedence-online.net/photo_gallery_full_sized.php... |
| jsusanka Nov 14, 2006 2:21 PM EDT |
I like the part where the new guys says I am not an open source fanatic. Meaning - I can't wait to be contacted by all the microsoft vendors to take me to meetings and lunches. what a joke - maybe if they counsel would actually try to learn something instead of plucking numbers through the air then maybe they would succeed. I bet their roll out of xp will be over budget but will be deemed a succes because they will throw all kinds of money at it but contracts will get signed and commitments will have to be met or extra money will have to be paid. |
| tuxchick Nov 14, 2006 8:02 PM EDT |
Oh man, this article makes it sound more like a giant game of musical chairs than a carefully planned migration. Fave quotes: ""1,500 was the original plan. It was a figure plucked from the air at the time," Most of the difference was made up of costs attributed to "decision making" and "project management", There were a range of problems with the open-source implementation, Timms said, including desktop interfaces and lack of support for removeable drives." And my #1 fave: "In the light of the findings, the council has taken the decision to mothball the project. Timms has now moved jobs to work for Service Birmingham, a joint venture between Birmingham City Council and Capita, which is focusing on increasing business efficiency. " Yes, Mr. Timms has surely proven he is the man for that job! Even the most gifted satirist cannot invent this sort of thing. |
| dcparris Nov 14, 2006 10:20 PM EDT |
I'm still wondering why Mr. Timms wasn't sacked. It reminds me of the concept of promoting someone to keep them from doing more harm than they already have. |
| salparadise Nov 15, 2006 12:40 AM EDT |
Between this and one other OSS project we have the best part of three quarters of a million pounds up in smoke, OSS damaged, users left disillusioned and less than 300 desktops installed as a result. Those responsible? Moved on, made redundant (not sacked) and in one case, promoted to national schemes. I'm still trying to decide whether or not to blow the lid off this whole thing and go public with what I know. |
| salparadise Nov 15, 2006 2:46 AM EDT |
Update: I spoke to someone involved in this situation today and some people are extremely angry that this story has been made public as it is less than accurate. Until such time as I know specific details I can't say a word. |
| Scott_Ruecker Nov 15, 2006 3:24 AM EDT |
Get the scoop Sal! |
| Sander_Marechal Nov 15, 2006 6:11 AM EDT |
Yes! Give us the dirt and save the face of OSS! |
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