OpenOffice Gets a Toe-Hold in The Netherlands

ChristW writes "Several sources in The Netherlands report that the city of Groningen will invest 160.000 euros yearly to switch its 3650 computers to OpenOffice. They are saving 330.000 euros per year by making this switch. The other 170.000 euros will be saved up to use for new Microsoft Office licences if it becomes necessary to renew them. The city plans to renew software every 5 years, as opposed to Microsoft, who 'forces' an upgrade cycle of 3 years. Switching from Windows to Linux is not seen as an option at this point in time, so those licenses will be renewed."

Good Alternative

I've always found OpenOffice to be a fairly good alternative to the Microsoft Office Suite. The biggest problem I've run into with it is the fact that OO 1 cannot open documents that were saved in OO 2 format. This was originally an issue here at my university because they took quite a while to migrate to OO 2. All the documents I tried transfering one day to print off in the labs had to be converted back to a format that would open on OO 1, which was a PITA to run on several dozen documents.

As for compatability with Office Documents, I've had some problems when the documents have strange formatting, but it seems to only occur when you try to print out the documents.

Re:Good Alternative

OO 1 cannot open documents that were saved in OO 2 format

This is far better than with Office, where not only is it impossible to open later Office documents in earlier versions, but some documents saved in earlier versions cannot be opened in later versions. Also, since the old .doc format is proprietary and closed, it is nigh-on impossible to open old documents without that same old version of Office.

The Netherlands were right to make this move. OOo is an open format. They will be able to read their documents forevermore, no matter what changes there are in technology and software. And that can only be a good thing.

Re:Good Alternative

The biggest problem I've run into with it is the fact that OO 1 cannot open documents that were saved in OO 2 format.

OOo 1.1.5 can do this.

Good.

I think I speak for every user on Slashdot when I state that I don't care how shitty OpenOffice.org is, as long as it's not made by Microsoft.

More likely a grammar ninja

There impossible to sea until

Well

'OpenOffice Gets a Toe-Hold in The Netherlands'

Its better than getting toed in the never reqions.

This was covered by a local magazine For IT pros

Dutch people care very little about buzzwords and corporate promises.

If something is cheaper and does the same thing our cultural cheapness kicks in and ditches the old crap.

Re:This was covered by a local magazine For IT pro

About 3 years ago, at work (a Dutch semi-government company) we decided to switch from MS Office to OpenOffice.
Version 1.0.1 was installed on all workstations (before, only part of the workstations had MS Office because it was too expensive).

It was used for about a year, but there were continuing complaints from people who "knew how to work with MS Office and had no time to learn OpenOffice".
Those were often higher-paid employees and external consultants working in the company, and when their claims about lost hours were really true, one could argue that no money was ever saved by switching.

It was decided to go back to MS Office and buy extra licenses for the remainder of the systems.
OpenOffice is still installed, and sometimes it is useful (and used) for things like converting to PDF or repairing documents that make MS Office crash, but it no longer is the generally used package.

This clearly shows the effectiviness of "student licenses" and other pricing schemes: by making sure that the average person "knows how to use Office" (I type it in quotes because I believe the average knowledge of Office features is only skin-deep, maybe "familiar with" is a better description) you can frustrate any attempt to switch to other packages.

I guess the Groningen people will also meet this obstacle.

Hmm?

Open office might actually be the first really usable alternative to the whole windows schema in the cooperate world, right now Thunderbird, Linux, and Firefox (along with big open source themed software) aren't quite compatible with the features that are used all to often in the cooperate world where plugins are developed only for MS products,

With open office there aren't to many critical plugins that are required for every day use in the office (atleast not where I am from) so it might be the first Open Source product do to its ability to save documents and open them in the MS formats that really transitions well

plus being free and until recently without even a whisper of a virus an excellent alternative to the all powerful (and always needed it seems) MS office suite. Now if the gimp could match photoshop in ease of use we might be there

Meanwhile, in Paris

Meanwhile, Paris may put their deployment on hold because the French Ministry of Defense says [arstechnica.com] it falls short in the area of security. Specifically they can get malicious macro code to execute with no user warning. Microsoft Office, on the other hand, annoys you at every chance that a macro will run. Fortunately the lab is actually working with OpenOffice.org to have the issues resolved.

Good converter

OpenOffice can be used as a great converter.
For instance, by creating the appropriate routines with your favorite 3G language, one can generate/manipulate existing OpenOffice documents (a set of XML files archived in common ZIP format) to generate reports. Then, using the UNO API, create a simple application that controls an OpenOffice process running in the background, feed it with the manipulated documents and tell it to save in the desired format (MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, depending on the type of report). Totally custom, a developer's dream.

Sure, it still needs a bit of improvement. Namely concerning CPU and memory usage, but try to do the above using M$ Products...

"Force" an upgrade?

Maybe I missed it, but I don't see how Microsoft can "force" someone to upgrade after three years. Just because they come out with a new version doesn't mean you have to run out and buy it. If you only want to buy every five years, just buy every five years and ignore the release cycle. Is there something I'm missing?

Re:"Force" an upgrade?

Corporate site licenses expire and need to be renewed.

Re:"Force" an upgrade?

Yes, it's called "Software Assurance." It is not possible to get upgrade pricing with Microsoft open licensing. You are either required to purchase SA with your licenses, or buy future licenses at full price. This keeps you locked in. Sometimes you save money if the next version comes out before your SA expires and your company decides it wants the new features. Sometimes you don't save money if you decide that you don't need the next version, or there's a lovely four year gap between versions and your SA is only good for 2 years.

It works because if you *could* have saved a lot of money but chose not to, then you're going to look like a serious idiot. If you don't save money but pretty much break even, you stay off the CFO's radar. So you might as well purchase SA, with the one serious drawback being that you're stuck with MS Office because you've not only paid for it, but you've prepaid for the next version. Bonk.

This doesn't affect individual users. It also doesn't affect companies that are quite content using very old versions of MS Office.

English Please

Could somebody please post english translations of the articles? Thanks.

Wouldn't know why they can't switch from Windows..

Especially since their URL starts with /Exe/ZyNET.exe/00000N0J.txt?Z....

English Translation of article

Translated from the Televaag [telegraaf.nl], sorry for any grammar errors:

The municipality of Groningen is going to be the first major municipality in the Netherlands to use OpenOffice. This way 330.000 euros will be saved on licencing costs. The council of Groningen agreed yesterdayevening to let the contract with Microsoft for Microsoft Office expire.

The contract with Microsoft for the operatingsystem Windows will be renewed. Groningen counts about 181.000 inhabitants and the municipality itself has about 3650 pc's internally. In Groningen people started investigating the possibilities of using Open Standards and Open Source Software after requests from the council. The reason of this investigation was that they wanted to break the monopoly of large software suppliers and that they didn't want to depend on them for changes to their software.

No switch to Linux

OpenOffice will be installed under Windows in Groningen. From the investigation it became clear that a total switch to an Open platform like Linux currently isn't a viable choice. The municipality does say to strive that workstations in Groningen will run as much software as possible that runs on both Windows and Linux. At a later point in time the switch to Linux would then be easier.

Because they want to avoid the risk of having to ask for general municipality funds if the switch backfires and they want to switch back to Microsoft Office, a large portion (170.000 euros) of the funds will be saved in a "Microsoftlicences" account.

The remainder of the funds (78.450 euros) will be used to form a migrationteam that will start with the preperations of switching to operating-system independent workstations.

translation of Webwereld article

july 20th 2006, 14:04 - The city of Groningen wednesday agreed to a proposal to switch from Microsoft Office to the free OpenOffice suite.

by not renewing the current contract with Microsoft for the use of Office, the city safes 330.000 euro a year. This is based on licences for the 3650 PCs the city was using three years ago when the contract was signed.

Groningen wants to gradually move to open-sourcesoftware. The contract with Microsoft for the use of Windows will be renewed, because a switch to Linux would "not yet be opportune", according to the counsil.

The city of Groningen will use the money that was safed by not renewing the Office contract for the creation of a 'transition-team' that will concern itself with the transition to Openoffice.org and other open-sourcesoftware. Main task for this team is the preparation for a operating system independent workspace.

160.000 euro a year is freed for the transition, the other 170.000 euro the city saves yearly will be used to create a fund in case the city wishes to acquire the Microsoft licences after all.

Victory

According to Valentijn Sessink of Openoffice.nl, supplier of open-sourcesoftware, spending the money safed in the migration is important. "I feel the biggest victory is that the money that is safed will indeed be used to make the transition to open-sourcesoftware", says Sessink.

Sessink believes the renewal of the Windows-contract might not have been necessary. "Practically al ne PCs you buy have Windows pre-installed. Why would you pay so much money for a contract with Microsoft?"

"Prolonging a licenseagreement yields very little strategically. The treacherous part is that the "software-assurance" limits your freedom of choice of software to run on your PC" states Sessink to Webwereld.

also, the city of Groningen has a 5-year replacement cycle for is software, while Microsoft has a 3-year cycle for Office. This also makes the agreement inefficient.

The city of Groningen will still be able to use the current version of Office it is using, even after the contract ends. The contract with Microsoft, the software-assurance, added user support and the right to run new versions of Office. Ending the contract therefore has no influence on already purchased versions. The city of Groningen therefore has plenty of time to prepare for the switch to Openoffice.org.

Re:Not clear

because if Open Office does blow up in their face they want to have the money in reserve to go ahead and make the switch back, just a huge backup plan if you will, not about familiarity, just they don't trust open office enough to put all their (what is it "eggs in one basket"?).