The Penguin Ping v2.0
Back up in y'all one mo' 'gain for the cause
Back up in y'all one mo' 'gain for the cause
Wanna be Penguified? On or off, hit me!
Got root?
Posted on 03/23/2005 2:10:04 PM PST by antiRepublicrat
SALT LAKE CITY -- There have been so many announcements, so much activity, such a hurried pace to the Brainshare 2005 conference that I think many may have overlooked the big story. It was thrown out in an almost offhand manner during Novell CEO Jack Messman's keynote address on Monday: Longtime Microsoft partner Novell is migrating all of its own 6,000 Windows desktops to Linux.
I asked to speak to an executive who could tell me about the migration, and CIO Debra Anderson was kind enough to make herself available in spite of her own hectic schedule to tell the tale.
The migration began last summer. Actually the first phase began the previous year, with the move from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. Anderson set an ambitious goal for that first phase: She wanted to migrate 90 percent of MS Office users to OOo in three months. They almost made that goal, too, with 85 percent migrated during that time frame. There were lessons to be learned from those who couldn't migrate, and feedback to the OOo developers got work started on removing some of the tougher obstacles. (Note: I've heard unconfirmed reports that Novell has hired a number of OOo developers since then.)
Main migration began last year
The main Linux migration began last summer, with 120 volunteers from the Novell workforce stepping up to start, even before the release of Novell Linux Desktop. Once again, Anderson set an ambitious goal: She wanted 50 percent of the Novell workforce running on Linux desktops by October. They made this one, and the 50 percent were all volunteers.
Anderson pointed out that the company's belief in the move -- and by company, we are not talking about only top management but rank-and-file Novell employees, as demonstrated by the large number of volunteers who stepped forward -- has made her task easier than it would be for other CIOs at other firms.
Novell's fiscal year begins in November, and the goal for desktop migration during the current fiscal year is just as high as for earlier ones -- 80 percent to be migrated by year's end. Why not 100 percent? Because of lessons learned during the migration thus far. The key lesson is that Linux is not ready to handle all the functionality performed on Windows desktops today. However, a significant percentage has already been migrated -- significant as in $900,000 savings in MS Office and MS Windows licensing fees for Novell last year. And those savings will continue to accrue year by year by year.
Today, new desktops at Novell are Linux desktops. They have canceled their contracts with Microsoft for Windows desktops. And once again, just was the case with the OOo migration, the tough problems are fed back to appropriate developers for sizing and solving.
Hours, not days, for training
Training is always a topic of concern when Linux migration is discussed. I asked Anderson how many days of training were required to convert former Windows users to productive Linux users. She corrected me, saying it's not a matter of how many days of training are required, but how many hours.
The training consists of differences in usability; an understanding of the differences between the Linux kernel and Windows XP is not required. How to open and close windows, start and stop applications, and logging in and out are the types of things being taught in Novell's migration training.
Additional help is available if needed, of course, and there are reference cards available on the Internet to help users learn how to do in OOo what they used to do in MS Office. Anderson said a part of their intranet called "The Open Zone" contains additional information and a FAQ to further aid employees when questions arise. She says that the "The Open Zone" is the second most popular destination on their intranet.
Why do I think this is the big story of Brainshare 2005? Because the repercussions from this migration are going to be felt far beyond Novell's own corporate desktops. Because the process will uncover and remove obstacles to migration as it goes forward. Because at the end of the road, a path will have been blazed that other large corporations can follow.
Anderson is the second Novell executive to tell me that there will be other migration announcements made before Novell finishes its own. Neither could or would say more than that, but it appears to me that 2005 -- finally -- is going to be the year of the Linux desktop's arrival in corporate America.
They need to log that time against the conversion costs. That being said, the costs shouldn't be much higher than were required of corporate users when they had to convert from Word Perfect to Word when Novell bought Word Perfect and proceeded to run it into the ground.
Wanna be Penguified? On or off, hit me!
Got root?
Novell bought WordPerfect. At the time WP was the best wordprocessing software. Novell didn't update it, and allowed it to sink into near obscurity, as MS moved and promoted Word.
IIRC, Novell also bought PC Tools, an excellent DOS-based tuning utility program. PC Tools no longer exists.
Novell pushing Linux? Look out Linux!!!!
Fortunately for Linux, its a much larger movement than Novell. Even if Novell manages to shoot itself in the foot once again, this migration will have proved an important point. Linux will continue to live on, in spite of Novell.
No, I believe the Novell fiasco's with WP is far behind them. Norda's gone, and the new players want to win with this.
Also consider that Novell is pushing and IBM is pushing Linux and they are partners in other areas.
I'd say look out M$. 6K desktops at $200 a pop, $1.2M in savings.
I tried that there linux once and my computer blew up and killed my dog. It's not ready for prime time! The Chinese use it! Linus Torvalds is a commie! To be safe, everyone should buy and install Microsoft® Windows.
|
I wasn't pleased with Suse 9.2 pro, I couldn't get the networking working correctly. I went back to Mandrake.
I wasn't pleased with Suse 9.2 pro, I couldn't get the networking working correctly. I went back to Mandrake.
Glad to see you're finally coming around Nick!
;-)
The downside is that their established base in the field consists of Novell file and print servers and Windows desktops. They've gone an amazing job of integrating Linux with Netware (OES is spooky-cool) but that's server side. What will make them or break them is penetration into the business office distribution, and that is a notoriously conservative market. It is also Microsoft's jugular vein, and Bill's boys won't be taking that lying down.
Like a ripe plum they will foo into our hands.
Didn't take the 6.x test last year because I hadn't had any Novell clients for at least a year, they had all switched over to MS Servers.
Novell File & Print servers were great, they ran twice as fast on half the hardware, rarely crashed or had to be rebooted, and it didn't matter what desktop client you used.
Novell Directory Service (NDS) was a true innovation. The behind-the-scenes technical aspects blew me away when I went through the training. It took years for Microsoft to mimic (steal) NDS and come out with Active Directory.
I think what killed Novell was the email client, Groupwise. Outlook was just much better (at least that was the customer perception).
That plus Marketing. I used to get so pissed off when Microsoft was advertising like heck and I'd NEVER see a Novell ad.
Also, I think the top management was screwed up (I think they went through a couple of bleeped up CEOs).
Over 7 years, I figure I got my 6K initial training investment back (more if you count ongoing recertification training).
It just pisses off that I'm going to have to spend another 6K (or more now) to get my Microsoft certification (MCSE) in what I see as an inferior product.
It's going to be like going back to grammar school after a great summer vacation. Sucks to be me.
That's really odd, I didn't have any problems with it, and my enthernet adapters are dual built in gigabits on an Asus motherboard.
Oh and the machine I put SuSE was an upgrade from Mandrake 10.x. I have two other Mandrake systems to upgrade. I like SuSE much better than Mandrake.
Indeed NDS was (IS) a marvel, and despite M$' best effots, still blows Active Directory out of the water. Add to that that they've ported it to Linux and it just keeps getting better.
And yes, Norda (I actually have a hand signed - not stamped - training cert from Norda) in his later years and the few that followed afterwards did not do Novell right, but I believe that current management has things in perspective; they still have a few billion in cash to play with, and have a very good working partnership with IBM that will do them, and the IT community/industry well.
Microsoft migrated hotmail.com off FreeBSD and onto Windows 2000 Server after they acquired them. Big whoop!
MS will have to "look out" when Novell hires all of Microsoft's marketing department. FAT CHANCE of that happening.
To me, the most interesting items were factual rejection of various FUD put forth by many here. A couple are it's not practical to switch, switching costs will be so high that you'll not save any money. But my favorite absolutely shot down here was the training, measured in mere hours.
Thanks for the "writing on the wall" ping. ;')
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
It'll never work! They're all commies!