swhiser wrote:
Ian Lynch wrote:
Any responses to arguments set forth by Microsoft, et. al., should
avoid the emotional dialogue, and focus on the technical merits of
Mass' decision.
Thank you Don and Ian for your comments...
Technical or economic merits. While MS might say it will cost MA to
retrain staff, this is a one off short term investment for a long term
gain.
As we know, the commitment to training is not nearly as great as
others make it (which explains the slowness at many of our OOo
training business [Ian needs not confirm]). MA is already competent
with OOo and has full view of the scope of the training and adjustment
process, and if you asked them off the record they would grin and be
silent. The case study about their migration will be a Tipping Point.
In my book, "Penguin in the Pew" (a.k.a., PitP), I have a table
demonstrating that the amount of productivity lost (on average), due to
adjusting to the differences between Msft Office and OpenOffice.org, is
really not all that great, and is frequently less than perceived. The
point was that, even given the adjustment period of a couple of weeks,
not all productivity is lost. Many scenarios that suggest it is more
costly to retrain for the new office suite seem to assume a 100% loss in
productivity. This is absolutely not true.
Companies and governments often spend money up front to invest in
the future so this is not different or unusual. MS have also said that
they will respond to customer demand so here is the opportunity to show
they mean it. They spend a lot on market research so asking large
corporate and government customers if they would prefer MS to
standardise on ODF would be pretty easy to do.
They're done. Over.
The FUD will be loud and it (we) will embarass them, because people
get this now.
I agree here. A short-term investment with an eye towards a long-term
gain is definitely a smart move.
Don
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
