migrating to new systems, was: Fw: [libreoffice-users] LibreOffice paragraph styles exported to other software/formats?

users
#1

the birds do it ... the fish do it ... now, the computerists
migrate :wink:

       Does anyone really wish to remain with MSFT?; it's just already
programmed into these glorified-typewriter machines ...
            scary prospect to remove it then install something else -and
all alone, nary a soul to even lend a hand :wink:

       BTW - I thought many of your pubs were called the King's Arms :wink:

Hi :slight_smile:

#2

Hi :) 
Yes, there are a lot of Kings Arms too, i'd kinda forgotten.  In Brighton there was one called the "Queens Head" with it's sign being a painting of Freddy Mercury.  Usually the signs are fairly predictable.  I saw a Queens Legs once but can't remember where.

Actually wrt to removing Windows that is really not necessary at all.  It's what the MS world prefer people to do but is absolutely NOT what the OpenSource world recommends.  The whole point about using the word "migrate" is to avoid the idea of "switching".

Most OpenSource people have a "dual-boot" (or "multi-boot").  When they turn on their system they get a "boot" menu giving a list of the different operating systems on their machine.  The commonest is to have 2 options; with one being for Windows and the other being for Mint/Ubuntu/openSuSE/whatever.

The usual recommendation from most OpenSource people is to start the migration with the boot-menu defaulting into Windows.  Then after some time switch that around making the Gnu&Linux the default.

Almost all my colleagues' machines still default into Windows but i have a few that would default into Ubuntu if their users didn't press the up arrow in time.  I give them 10 seconds which is more than enough for most people.

I get the impression that MS would rather people switched rather than migrate because it always takes people time to learn a new system.

During that learning process there are bound to be times when you don't know how to do something really quite trivial.  People often claim the new system can't do something, not because they have exhaustively searched for it - but just because they can't be bothered to poke around for 2 seconds or ask someone.  For some reason such morons are usually highly regarded and their opinions widely sought.  Anyway if they had been able to quickly reboot back into Windows, complete the task, and then take their time finding out how to do whatever then they would probably find plenty of ways.  People who do the switch often end up rejecting the new system and taking it back to the shop and demanding whatever they were used to previously.  People who do the migration often end up staying away from Windows more and more.

There was the case of a German town council that had been taking advice from the "Free Software Foundation" and everything was going really smoothly with most councillors much preferring OpenOffice (just before the launch of LO) and the new systems and loving the reduction in license fees.  Then a change of personnel at the top led to the IT department suddenly stopping all communication with the FSF and started hiring in MS employees to help them migrate.  The MS people said to do a complete switch and get rid of all remaining MS stuff.  Within a few months the whole thing had collapsed and the council 'had to' re-purchase all new MS stuff.  There was a big newspaper article about how rubbish OpenSource was and how it had ended up costing the council a huge fortune.

Meanwhile a Spanish government had put several thousand Gnu&Linux desktops into schools and following the FSF people's advice found it such a huge success that they put in a lot more similar systems into government offices.  All a complete success and a massive saving.

So, don't let yourself get pushed into getting rid of Windows because there really is no need to.  Just go for the dual-boot and use both.  Let yourself be led gently by the hand instead of being "dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century".  Gentler option wins. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
Just found this
" 
South Tyrol has announced to migrate 7000 PCs in the public
administration to LibreOffice -
http://www.provinz.bz.it/lpa/285.asp?redas=yes&aktuelles_action=4&aktuelles_article_id=428953
(announcement in german)
"
from the marketing list, the post from Christian Lohmaier in response to a question about the best route to take on the way to get from Munich to Milan for LibOCon.  I tend to choose routes that either fastest or for best for sight-seeing, NOT by what locals are likely to be using on their computers! :)  lol

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: