[Linux-aus] NZ firm puts Linux on desktops

[Jeff Waugh]

<quote who="Con Zymaris">

> I am sick and tired of hearing about how much 're-training' will be
> necessary for businesses who jump from Windows to Linux desktops. I don't
> buy any of that. I have two case studies, both ironically from New
> Zealand, showing total re-training (for upto 300 desktop seats) being
> around 10 minutes(!!) per user. I would imagine this to be similar to the
> re-training effort needed to go from Win98 to XP.

For some time, GNOME has been pushing the "comfortably and understandably
different" line, which alleviates another set of migration issues: User
expectations. If users see something that looks like Windows, they'll be
baffled and confused if it doesn't operate similarly.

Some independent support for this perspective from Siemens, early this
month (which everyone's already seen, but possibly missed this crucial
point):

  'Gnome, particularly Ximian's version, was "different enough" to set user
  expectations that the experience would be less like Windows, which led to
  fewer adoption problems.'

  http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/08/13/1424212

- Jeff

-- 
linux.conf.au 2004: Adelaide, Australia         http://lca2004.linux.org.au/
 
    "It's not sufficient to 'use simple words to explain things'. Things
      must actually *be* simple, which is much harder." - Martin Pool