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Seattle "gives up"

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worker201:
http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=675050&c=nw&nw

So I just moved to Seattle this past week, and the indie newspapers are really good.  Like this commentary, for example.  Seattle's city government has never made a big commitment to Microsoft.  But this week, during a budget crisis, the mayor submitted a proposal to upgrade the city's email network to Outlook, a $5million project.  City officials claim they're afraid of the obsolescence of their current Novell solutions, and conspiracy theorists claim the city is courting favor with Microsoft, the huge company just across the lake.  In fact both are probably true.  As one city employee stated, "We all hate Microsoft, but they've taken over the world. We've lost, therefore we must concede."  Note that some anonymous tech gurus have stated that the city's current IT people aren't prepared for all the problems that a Microsoft email network will cause.

Aloone_Jonez:
You never know, they might have actually chosen pragmatism over idealism.

It's also possible that they chose Outlook because they feel it is the best software for them as it offers the best compatability with everyone else.

I don't know whether it is the best software for them as I don't know what their requirements are or what Novel currently offers them.

Refalm:
Novell has been downhill ever since they got rid of NetWare.
I know lots of companies that said goodbye to Novell after their move to do everything in Linux.

Most IT guys are actually scared of anything Linux or Unix, and see it as a threat. Because Windows is clicking something in the hope that it works, as is Unix and Linux is mostly thinking about what the hell you are doing. Most IT professionals aren't prepared to take that step.

worker201:
Did a little digging and found out that Groupwise's next major release is in beta right now, and a final release is expected before the end of the year.  There's at least one more major release planned after that.  So the mayor's excuses about Groupwise support disappearing seem a little less reasonable now.  Probably a moot point - no city council on earth (except Redmond) would greenlight a $5million computer upgrade when the city is $50million in debt.  Which one might construe as evidence that the whole thing was just a symbolic nod toward Microsoft.

Kintaro:
The decision about Groupwise was clearly stated to be caused by a lack of a market. Even when Groupwise release the next version, it costs money to upgrade to that. Are you implying worker that the city should cease having email until the debt is paid?

It's funny how you have no opposition to the welfare spending of your Government at present in debt also, you hypocritical fuck.

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