[clug] AGIMO seeks comments (again) on productivity software file formats

steve jenkin sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au
Fri Feb 17 17:50:21 MST 2012


Paul Wayper wrote on 17/02/12 8:27 PM:
> My comment is: John Sheridan says:
> 
> [our job is] "not to choose a more perfect standard and then move 265,000 PCs
> to it"

[In reply to the thread:
<https://lists.samba.org/archive/linux/2012-February/030978.html>]

I'm not buying into this argument:
 Some theory and background and then observations...

Here's some vendor claims which are probably not far from the truth - to
illustrate that non-product costs/issues can dominate rational,
competent and unbiased decision making.

The costs of data migration for 'Enterprise Storage' systems (on
fibre-channel SAN's) is astronomic. This isn't file conversion, just
moving raw disk contents to a different vendor platform:

"Migration project expenditures are on average greater than 200% of the
acquisition cost of enterprise storage.
With an average of 4 years useful life, the annual operating expenses
associated to migration represent ~50% of acquisition cost."

<http://www.hds.com/assets/pdf/white-paper-reducing-costs-and-risks-for-data-migrations.pdf>



==> If you own a competitors' Enterprise Storage (say EMC, they're #1),
    then you can *never* cost justify replacing it with another vendor,
    *unless* the data migration can be automatic and 100% 'safe'.


--> The hurdles to adoption of FOSS on Corporate Desktops are many
    and varied.
    FOSS can and has out-competed Apple and Microsoft in other areas.

    Concentrate on your *strengths*, 'fixing' your weaknesses gives
     you very poor returns on your time and effort.

This is well-researched, not just a notion of mine...

Here are two book based on million+ person interviews/surveys by the
Gallup organisation (yep, the biggest polling org. in the world).

"First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do
Differently"
<http://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-Rules-Differently/dp/0684852861/ref=pd_sim_b_2>

"Now, Discover Your Strengths"
<http://www.amazon.com/Discover-Your-Strengths-Marcus-Buckingham/dp/0743201140>

And the Gallup site:
<http://strengths.gallup.com/110254/StrengthsBased-Books.aspx>


==> My intended take-away:
    Microsoft and Apple have a 'lock' on the Corporate Desktop,
    *for the moment*.

    Not only can't 'we' (FOSS) compete with them head-on in that
    arena, we shouldn't waste our efforts, modulo highly-specific
    opportunities as they arise.

    What FOSS does well, and dominates in, is the other *90%*
    of the IT-world.
    PC's and 'traditional' desktops are also in decline.

    The single most important and influential lobbying we can do
    is for a Single Government Cloud Infrastructure,
     based on pure FOSS, not proprietary soln and VM's.
     Especially not Windows with its performance, footprint,
     remote admin/managent and security issues.

    The FMAA mandates the "four E's" in the use of public monies:
     "Efficient, Effective, Ethical", and now "Economical".
     This is a very powerful stick...
     AGIMO needs to *prove* new infrastructure, like Cloud srevices,
     are the *cheapest*, especially in TCO.


<http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fmaaa1997321/s44.html>


The former Whitehouse CIO, Vivek Kundra, was in Oz this week and
interviewed on ABC's "The Business" program.

His message:
To address $80B in IT (operations?) spending and 2,000 datacentres, he
created a Cloud Computing initiative... And more on wikipedia...

<http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-14/white-house-tech-guru-talks-technology/3830480>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivek_Kundra>


==> The iPhone is only 5 years old, the iPad 1 or 2 years.
    Android, FOSS based, is giving Apple a run for dominance.
    Microsoft is nowhere to be seen, yet, probably never.

    These new devices have dramatically changed "user land" and,
    I believe, signal the end of "the desktop as we know it".
    Microsoft want to believe "everything is a PC", so let them.

    Microsoft *won't* have a lock in that new world,
    but the back-end systems and their capability *will*
    define what the new "user land" does.
    The Cloud services platform chosen now defines future
    Govt services and capabilities.


BTW, if you hadn't noticed, FOSS (Apache and others) has stunningly won
one of the most important markets out there: Web servers.

They are the basis of what Gartner is telling us is The Next Big Thing,
SoA - Services Oriented Architecture.

Not sure about SaaS - Software as a Service. Sounds like renting access
to software running in a VM... [but not my expertise area]


Hope this is:
 a) clear
 b) helpful, and
 c) not taken to be 'trolling'.

Hope you all have a good weekend.

steve

-- 
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin


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