[NTLUG:Discuss] Any open source success stories?

[kbrannen@gte.net]

Lance Simmons wrote:
> 
> Fellow NTLUG'ers,
> 
> I'm on a committee at my university that's deliberating now
> about what to do about software for the university's
> undergraduate school. Most people on the committee want us to
> renew a deal with microsoft in which faculty and staff get lots
> of microsoft software and all of our students get to buy lots of
> microsoft software for ridicuously low prices (compared to what
> those students' eventual employers will have to pay for the same
> software, which will be the only software they'll know how to
> use).

<shudder>

> 
> I'd like to persuade people on the committee to look into other
> possible sources of software, but I'm not as clear as I'd like
> to be about what exactly is possible now with free software.
> Does anyone have any success stories about institutions that
> have moved away from microsoft products in one area or another
> and lived to tell the tale? Microsoft seems to be primarily
> interested in selling educational institutions total packages
> that cover the entire line of microsoft software from top to
> bottom, and this creates a lot of pressure on us to go microsoft
> all the way.

On slashdot yesterday, there was a story about a small university in Australia
where the students took over the IT department.  Set up the network, support,
software, the whole 9 yards.  Not quite the same as you, but perhaps it may
give you some ideas.

> 
> One of the concerns people have expressed about free software is
> that "you can't get support for it". Is that still true?

I believe RedHat will sell it.  LinuxCare did that, don't know their current
status after their merger with TurboLinux.  There are probably other
companies.  I don't think it'd be hard to find someone considering the size of
help you need (as that could be a hefty contract).

> 
> Our school has about 1,200 undergraduates, and maybe 250
> employees. (I don't really know the number of employees, but
> that's a guess.) We also have an MBA school with about 2,500
> students, but they make their technology decisions apart from
> the undergraduate school.
> 
> Does anyone have any encouraging words, or should I just go
> along with the proposal to sign up for the microsoft package
> deal once again, so our students will be able to buy microsoft
> office suites for $15 or whatever?
> 
> Lance Simmons
> _______________________________________________


There are always alternatives. :-)  There is StarOffice and other packages out
that handle most of the stuff.  Linux hasn't conquered the desktop yet, but it
is trying.

HTH,
Kevin