SA Government to switch to linux

[Circus-Killer]

Government recently announced that it will be switching over to linux.
Should be interesting to watch. we'll have to see how it goes.

Read more here.

[Sqwishy]

Wow! That's cool! I'm guessing first the governments are gonna start switching, and then business' , and then homes, and after that linux will rule the world >8] I read somewhere last year that some government thingy place in europe started using red hat i think.

[Hendrixski]

That's South Africa right?

Cool. So who's keeping score so far? Cuba, SA, Venezuala, France, China, Norway, and probably a few others have made serious commitments to Open Source. Let's hope the trend continues.

[diepruis]

Great! Germany's already pressured Redmond into using open document formats.

The future looks bright kids!

[mips]

The SA Gov has said this before. Not long after that the Vole sales & marketing paid them a visit and they signed a new contract.

I don't believe it until I see it.

Btw. Vole = MS

[Circus-Killer]

actually, they have been switching for the last 1 and a half years already (but chose to only officially announce it last week). remember mips, companies dont make the switch in one day, it takes months, if not years. now to try switch an entire countries infrastructure to linux will take a LOT longer.

cant remember which country, but one of them that already made the switch, it took them 3 years to do it. so yah, quit being both negative and hasty. and furthermore, they would have to renew their contract with MS until they have COMPLETED the switch. in fact, i would suspect that their contract would even allow for some overlap time in case they run behind schedule.

remember, by government, we are talking about parliment, police, traffic deparment, home affairs, public hospitals, public schools, and so forth. that is a huge amount of change, and i would expect at least a year for each "department" to change on their own, so collectively it could take as long as up to 5 to 10 years. but rather them start now, then not starting at all.

[mips]

Originally Posted by Circus-Killer remember mips, companies dont make the switch in one day, it takes months, if not years. now to try switch an entire countries infrastructure to linux will take a LOT longer.

I'm well aware of the time frames for migration. What I'm questioning is the governments commitment/dedication to this.

I've seen how government operates, it's scary to say the least.

It only takes a change of a few key people for things to swing in the opposite direction. We saw this with SARS when Jarvis & co left.

[Nitrogen]

I think that linux is fantastic.

I like what the ubuntu people are doing.
I just think that linux still has a long way to go before it will compete with microsoft on desktop computers.

almost every shop in South Africa is filled with windows programs.
Sadly hardly any linux stuff.

The next problem is with using linux, in windows you just click a couple of times and it works. With linux it could take you an entire day to get a program running, just to find out that it sucks in comparasion to the windows version.

I do find that linux is extremely stable but what is the point if every thing is a ball ache to setup.

[nuvolari_]

Originally Posted by Nitrogen I think that linux is fantastic. I like what the ubuntu people are doing. I just think that linux still has a long way to go before it will compete with microsoft on desktop computers. almost every shop in South Africa is filled with windows programs. Sadly hardly any linux stuff. The next problem is with using linux, in windows you just click a couple of times and it works. With linux it could take you an entire day to get a program running, just to find out that it sucks in comparasion to the windows version. I do find that linux is extremely stable but what is the point if every thing is a ball ache to setup.

@Nitrogen:

"almost every shop in South Africa is filled with windows programs." well, the internet is filled with linux/oss stuff

"The Next problem is with using linux, in windows you just click a couple of times and it works." My boss had the reverse experience: In linux he just clicked a couple of times and it worked. I'm referring to his laptop's lan connection... in fact, he didn't do anything. It just worked. Whereas he had to install his driver in windows to make the connection active...

"With linux it could take you an entire day to get a program running, just to find out that it sucks in comparasion to the windows version." An entire day!? I assume you talk about setting up iptables and squid... and lastly you should compare apples with apples. windows infected most people's minds so they *think* Linux is difficult and Windows is easy. I beg to differ. When is the last time I had to struggle with removing a virus, or scan my computer because it got slow? The only trouble is the hardware when a hard drive fails or something similar.

So in short I'm trying to bust the myth of "I don't find Linux apps anywhere, it's difficult to use and setting up is a nightmare". Ok, you can complain about the setup nightmare if you run into server-setup troubles I have some experience troubleshooting those and they are headaches! But for normal usage, "windows equivalent" type of install, it is surpassing windows in terms of ease

I hope this makes the way clear for most M$-brainwashed-me-people

[dariusdwtt]

I've also enjoyed some network benefits. For some reason when I'm capped. I have unlimited local on Linux, but no local at all in windows???? not complaining.