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Comment on A German state is ditching Windows and Microsoft Office for Linux and LibreOffice on the 30,000 PCs it uses for local government functions

joe_jowhat@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

Switching to an open-source project is easy, but the concern is more about the context in which they are used and how long they will persist in using these. It might be more convenient for the government to initially try Linux for some pilot projects that require less human intervention. This is because I’m not sure how familiar civil servants are with Linux and LibreOffice. On the other hand, open-source projects don’t provide after-sales services and may have technical or compatibility issues. It requires time for them to get accustomed to them.

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puppy@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
According to the article,

They are also migrating backend infrastructure such as emails servers etc.

They already have Linux migration experience in some German states as well as the current proposer.

Companies such as RedHat and Canonical and OpenSuse do offier enterprise level support. So open source software doesn’t have “after sales” support is a myth.

They say that the goal of the migration is privacy and security, no necessarily cost driven. They very well be prepared to pay a premium for enterprise level support.
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- joe_jowhat@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Your clarification help me understand their swtiching. Thanks 👍
  
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fne8w2ah@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I wish my country would also stop subsidising M$ and transition to Linux as well.

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- Ilgaz@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It is all about private “dinners”.
  
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slaeg@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
They’ve thought about that too, and see training as vital where others before them have failed. Also OS and programs will look somewhat similar to what users are used to, from what I can recall.

Producing documents or e-mails can’t be that functionally different, right? Many don’t need much more than that. However, I could see integration of third-party software as a challenge, but one that in most cases could be easily overcome.

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- Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  
  Producing documents or e-mails can’t be that functionally different, right?
  
  If you do complicated stuff in docx and then try open it in something like Libre the formatting will be interpreted differently.
  Source: I partly create forms for templats in Libre/OpenOffice at work.
  
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dan1101@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Yeah for the simple stuff LibreOffice will be just fine but for anything complex like mail merges and such it’s probably going to require a lot of work re-doing things.

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- Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  When someone uses a text editor like LibreOffice, whenever someone mentions complex tasks, I’d imagine writing a thesis, a series of books, a big ass report or the like. Mail merges sound like something another app should do…
  
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  - dan1101@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Yeah LibreOffice will do things like mail merges, but I mean it will probably require relearning the process. It will be different than the process they used with MS Office.
    
    If you just porting over simple things like letters and simple documents you should be able to move back and forth between MS Office and LibreOffice with few changes.
    
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