I wrote to Enza as you'll see below, to congratulate them on their Linux aspirations. I received a reply and thought the list would be interested. We should all write to people/companies that support Linux and offer our support as well. We have a community M$ cannot match, let's use it to our advantage...
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Jason Thanks for the encouraging email. Enza has a long way to go before we can declare ourselves free of M$ and we may never get there. We are currently running one (Yes one) non MS machine (Redhat) .I am the chief Linux evangelist here and I have my work cut out for me. Adam and the business managers are keen to see anything that will give the business an advantage and are open to ideas. But they are not willing to risk the business on the whim of an IT staffer.
My approach is to start small with the "but it's already working" line, there are no arguments for that. Intranet server first (Apache, Tomcat, PostgreSQL) then File server and X Server (OSS, SAP client, Ximian) for myself then a few colleges. This unfortunatly takes time. I need to get it out there and get the business asking the right questions. I am not sure how far we will get but know that we will be asking all the hard questions along the way and that I will not let it rest. Regards -----Original Message----- From: Hunt Adam Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2002 12:55 To: Harrison Justin Subject: FW: To Enza -----Original Message----- From: Hawker Kylie Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2002 12:20 p.m. To: Hunt Adam Subject: FW: To Enza -----Original Message----- From: Helpdesk [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Tuesday, 21 May 2002 10:36 To: Enza Subject: Fw: To Enza FYI ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jason Greenwood" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 10:16 AM Subject: To Enza
Dear Enza, I was heartened by the article that I read below, as I am a Linux and OSS advocate. It is nice to see a large company or co-operative fight the closed-proprietary software monopolies. I know the move was financially motivated but the long term benefits of OSS are more far reaching than that. I was concerned by one thing though, and I quote: "He (Adam Hunt) said there was no complete alternative to Windows available for the free operating system Linux" I was just curious what areas are not convertable. I attend meetings of the CLUG (Canterbury Linux Users Group) and know there are many there who would asist with any outstanding migration isssues so as to get Windows off of your desktops altogether, even for your power users. Just a thought. Anyway, good on you and wishing you all the best during your transition period. Kind Regards, Jason Greenwood OSS Advocate and Proud Linux User ==================== Enza says 'no' to Microsoft
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=1993017&thesection=techno logy&thesubsection=general
21.05.2002 By RICHARD WOOD Fruit exporter Enza is saying no to Microsoft's new Software Assurance licensing scheme and is likely to dump Microsoft Office for the bulk of its 500 users. Enza still has over a year left on an enterprise Select licensing agreement with Microsoft, struck when it was a Government operation. IT manager Adam Hunt said he would use the time to investigate the free Open Office suite, which has a version for Windows. He said it was likely he would keep Microsoft Office for only 30 or 40 power users, for which he would pay retail. "When I want to upgrade I'll just buy it again." (Cont.)
