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While I agree with everything said so far, there is one other factor that is important - FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt). IBM used it twenty years ago - "No one got fired for buying IBM", and now Microsoft are doing the same. Why should a (relatively) low-paid public sector procurement or IT manager stick out his/her neck and go for Linux? Its a risk which they do not have to take. It might be wimpy, but there are a lot of wimps out there! Linux has the perception of being difficult, even though it is not, and many people still do not understand Open Source and the GPL. Linux must appear SAFE (sorry for shouting). Clive -----Original Message----- From: Jon Lawrence [mailto:jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] Sent: 26 June 2003 08:46 To: dclug Subject: Re: [LUG] Lib Dem MP view on needs for public sector IT support Okay, My this makes a change, a politician talking sense. Have they ever come across a small company called IBM I wonder. Few companies are in a position to be able to carry out a public sector roll out, mainly 'cos the public sector (in fact include government depts aswell) have a nasty habit of changing the goal posts half way through any project, thus smaller companies won't go near. The likes of IBM, SUN, HP, are well positioned to offer the hand holding required. The fact the the 'public sector' need hand holding has absolutely naff all to do with 'consumer ignorance', the public sector and consumers are two totally separate market places. If they want to get Linux - or in fact anything other than Windows - into the public sector, then it is the IT departments/procurement that needs to be sorted out. Linux Admins are still pretty rare out in the real world (compared to Windows admins) so we still command a pretty good salary package, one which the public sector appears to be unwilling to pay. The OS may be free (or damn well close to free) but the people with the skills to implement it aren't. So the main reason that the 'public sector' (in the main) hasn't migrated away from Windows is simply that that is where their skills base lies, retraining takes time and money - and if there isn't pressure put on the management then this time and money doesn't become available. To sum up, the professional support is available - just as it always has been with Unix - from the big boys. All the 'Public sector' bosses have to do is ask, and then provide the dosh. Regards, Jon On Wed, 2003-06-25 at 21:34, Adrian Midgley wrote: > "Dr John Pugh, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament > (Southport). Pugh, who speaks mainly on science subjects for the > Lib Dems, told The Register that he's astounded by Linux's > "limited take up in the UK despite its security and low cost." > This, he said, is very much due to "consumer ignorance". This > ignorance is down to a marketing strategy, which is "in part > flawed." > > According to Pugh, the public sector needs "lots of hand-holding > (technical support) with its IT. But the Linux community is not > able to provide that." Asked whether the enormous amount of > hand-holding available to all Linux users for free from the > world-wide Linux community via its online newsgroups, e-mail > lists and other resources, isn't enough, he said it's not. > > "The public sector needs its vendors or some other single source > of expertise," he explained. Such hand-holding needs to be and > to be seen to be professional, expert and available at all times > with immediate answers. " > > >From The Register. > > He is not wrong... -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe. ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned for all viruses by Star Internet. The service is powered by MessageLabs. For more information on a proactive anti-virus service working around the clock, around the globe, visit: http://www.star.net.uk ________________________________________________________________________ -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG Mail majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe list" in the message body to unsubscribe.