Forearmed is forewarned. Thanks for the info. George Quoting Robert Bushman : > On Fri, 5 Jul 2002 george@georgetoft.com wrote: > > > Their opinion may already fixed, however, we have the opportunity to > make a > > difference. I can demonstrate using hard numbers that we can convert > the > > common desktop (at least the ones I used at my last three jobs) to > Linux, > > including Lotus Notes clients and Outlook clients (the hard part!!!) > simply > > and with less expense than one year of Microsoft licensing fees. > > > > George > > Apologies - this is a long one. :) > > While I wholeheartedly believe that what you > say is true of most organizations, I think > Maricopa may be atypical. They are heavily > invested in MS based technology, and have heavily > customized it. I think we probably found the > most MS dependant 10,000 station install in > the state. Here's to good learning experiences! > > following excerpts from: > http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/netsys/article/0%2c%2c11961_616731%2c00.html > > Precursor: in another article, they lauded their > 1998 move to end-to-end Microsoft, since it allowed > for perfect interoperability. > > ...--the County rolled out more sophisticated uses > such as its homegrown, line-of-business application, > Agenda Central. > > Agenda Central carries out the complex > board-of-supervisors' approval process, replacing > a cumbersome and time-intensive paper-based > system. By submitting a request to Agenda Central, > which submits forms to all bodies required for > approval simultaneously rather than serially, > Maricopa County estimates that it shaved the time > it takes for an agenda item to be routed and > approved from eight weeks to about two. > > This sounds to me like a rudimentary workflow > system. I'm betting it is written in something that > is not portable off Windows. Workflow systems are > expensive and cranky, with huge value added for > paperpushing operations (no offense intended, it's > important paper, and there is a lot of it to push). > I think it's fair to assume that migrating this to > Linux would be an expensive undertaking. > > ...the Electronic Business Center > (EBC), and have certain items, such as pull-down > menus, appear however they prefer. > > Any bets on whether this requires MSIE? > > Several collaborative and messaging benefits are > also available in [EBC]. Maricopa County > has written a front end to Microsoft Outlook > public folders to create a bulletin board > system. With this system collaborative computing > or information sharing can be carried out through > the EBC. A comprehensive calendaring system shows > all County and/or personnel events, such as hikes > and major meetings. Technology tips and tricks are > also available. > > "We integrated EBC with Microsoft Outlook 98 so > users can have EBC as their homepage and it also > has an interface to a groupware client so it can > show, for example, your tasks or messages," says > Paul Allsing, director of Maricopa's EBC. "[Our > Web site] demonstrates the Web interface can do > more than simply publishing; it can do tasks > through automation." > > Is this *really* a custom version of Outlook, or > just a heavily tweaked set of folders in Exchange? > Probably the latter, and therefore maybe it could be > accessed with Ximian Connector and Evolution. But > if it is custom software, integrated with Outlook, > it's not going to be a cheap migration - the software > would have to be reimplemented on Evolution. Also > bear in mind - Connector isn't cheap, and AFAIK > there is no major Open Source equivalent of Exchange > (integrated scheduling and messaging). > > The County is running Microsoft Internet > Information Server (IIS) version 4.0 on Windows NT > servers; it has a total of 30 NT-based Internet, > intranet, and groupware servers. > > The underlying database is SQL server 6.5 > > Whaddya think? Platform independant SQL with a > persistence layer written in an independant language > to make migration easy? Maybe, but I doubt it. > > "The strategic direction for > Maricopa County is that any future enterprise > applications will be Web-based," says Allsing. > > This, I think, is the thinnest point in their > armor. The best way to ensure a platform independant > thin-client architecture is to stick some alien > platforms in front of the front line users. But > I'll bet it's like it is here at my office - lots > of mini-apps, like our time accounting package, that > require the Microsoft Pseudo-Java VM or ActiveX. > No single app would break the organization, and > each has an easy to find alternative in the Open > Source world, but they're everyhere, like > cockroaches. Hunting them all down could take months, > or years - and every time you find one it'll be > because 100 people who just migrated are screaming, > "I can't do my job!" > > > So yes, I agree that converting one PC is easy, > and converting 100 PCs is only five times as > hard as converting one PC - but only if there > is no true MS dependancy. I fear that Maricopa > is heavily addicted, and that they see MS as > one of their great success stories. > > For all these reasons, I think that a migration > that starts slow is in the best interest of > Maricopa County (for all the reasons that we > all know so well), and in the best interest of > the long term advancement of Open Source in > our government (if their first experiences are > encouraging and not too painful, and we keep > showing them that it is the most wise decision, > they will expand the program). > > > > ________________________________________________ > See http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/navigator-mail.shtml if your mail doesn't > post to the list quickly and you use Netscape to write mail. > > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >