In Cambridgeshire, the decision is largely governed by the corporate direction, which is Microsoft pretty much throughout. This determines that the support team are skilled and certified in supporting Windows and thus, if we are to rely upon them for technical support, as is presently the case, those are the systems we must deploy.
Linux, in my experience using it at home, wouldn't necessarily be kinder to ageing hardware unless you just gave people a shell to work in. Use Gnome or KDE and it starts to tax underpowered machines just as quickly as Windows however I do acknowledge that there are many flavours of Linux and variants of X that I have no experience with that may have much smaller footprints.
Robert Day
ICT Manager
Libraries
Community Learning & Development
Cambridgeshire County Council
-----Original Message-----
From: lis-pub-libs: UK Public Libraries
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Paul Donaghy
Sent: 07 June 2005 12:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Peoples Network and what will happen next
Hi Gayle
The original People's Network PC specification stipulated Microsoft Windows
as the OS (it was that long ago I believe it actually said NT4 but by the
time everyone rolled out we were up to 2000 or XP).
We had enquiries about Linux and Mac provision but didn't do anything at the
time because of this stipulation.
Now that we're not funded centrally anymore though I wonder if we're still
covered by that or whether we can explore these other options - Linux would
certainly be an option as it's less strenuous on the hardware so we could
keep ageing PCs going longer (again - as there's no central funding to
replace them) and also because of the considerable cost saving on licensing
etc.
Be interested to hear other thoughts on this.
Cheers
Paul Donaghy
Electronic Library Services Manager
L. B. Richmond upon Thames
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Mobile: 07960 563 778
Web: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/libraries
-----Original Message-----
From: Rowley, Gayle [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 07 June 2005 10:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Peoples Network and what will happen next
Dear All,
I'd like to know if any authority has considered using Linux and using free
software packages on their public access computers?
Thank you in advance
Gayle
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