Re: GNOME Success Story

[Sriram Ramkrishna <sri aracnet com>]

You know Murray, this would make a great article for GJ if you're
willing to write the article (or someone else).  Like a human
interest type story instead of the usual focus on tech/reviews type
articles.

sri

On Wed, Jun 29, 2005 at 06:23:54PM +0200, Murray Cumming wrote:
> CCing marketing-list about this immigrant/refugee-support center in
> Austria.
> 
> Thanks Ralph, that's the kind of thing I'll be looking for: advantages
> and experience for the admins and the users, and details about that.
> You've already given me lots, and I'll try to fill it out when I visit
> you. How about Wednesday 6th July, approx 14:00?
> 
> I'll also try to talk to the users so I can describe some of the things
> they do. In this case, communication and presentation will obviously be
> important themes. And I wonder if you offer the UI in various languages,
> or encourage only the use of German?
> 
> If you still have slides/notes for your LinuxTage Linz presentation,
> that might be useful, but I'm more interested in the big picture than in
> the technical details. However, I'd be happy to help you provide
> feedback about technical stuff.
> 
> Many thanks.
> 
> On Wed, 2005-06-29 at 17:38 +0200, Ralph Aichinger wrote:
> > Am Mittwoch, den 29.06.2005, 16:46 +0200 schrieb Murray Cumming:
> > 
> > > I must visit Linz again soon. I wondered if I could visit Pangea and get
> > > some information, so I can write up a GNOME success story, with some
> > > human details. We are trying to get smaller interesting stories instead
> > > of big vague deployment stories.
> > 
> > Hello Murray, thanks for your interest!
> > 
> > I would love to show this place to you (having a bit of a bad cosncience
> > because I did not mail back to you, when we first had contact).
> > 
> > Not that our place is *that* great, but if you think it gives an 
> > interesting case study, I am of course willing to compile some
> > information for you and/or show you around.
> > 
> > I've done a small presentation at the Linuxtage Linz 2004, that focused
> > on my practical experiences with our thin client setup, otherwise
> > I will have to compile/collect materials. Please tell me what aspects
> > interest you most, and what materials would be helpful to you.
> > 
> > Some aspects of our project:
> > 
> > Like almost any NPO we are always short on funding. Therefore we 
> > use old computers given to us from government institutions (our first
> > setup came from the Land Oberösterreich, our current clients are from
> > the Magistrat Linz). These act as thin clients on a terminal server
> > (simple Athlon box with Debian, currently running Gnome 2.8).
> > 
> > Main uses are the usual "Internet Cafe" stuff (eMail, surfing, chat),
> > with a strong focus on teaching people to use these types of
> > applications (Some of our users have been to Europe only for a few
> > days when they come to us. Most likely Gnome is the first contact
> > with computing for many of our users.). To many of our users 
> > we provide a valuable lifeline to contact their friends and
> > family "back home" in Afghanistan, Africa or whereever (we have
> > had users from 30+ countries). 
> > 
> > Other uses are writing letters and other office-type stuff (job
> > applications mainly).
> > 
> > For our own office stuff we are also using 3 Gnome clients,
> > but also -- it cannot be avoided completely -- one Windows
> > PC. Interacting with government and EU institutions with
> > their various MS Office forms basically cannot be done 
> > without at least one Windows computer, unless you've got
> > *very* knowledgable and/or slightly masochistic people ; )
> > 
> > I am very happy with "my" Gnome setup right now, because of
> > following factors:
> > 
> > * very easy administration (our current hardware has seen 
> >   not a single reinstall since we've got it). Try that
> >   with Windows
> > * runs acceptably fast on our very old hardware  (PII, 64MB RAM
> >   for clients, Athlon 1700 MHz with 1 GB RAM for "server").
> > * Very little to mess up for users (and then it mostly is
> >   contained to their own accounts).
> > * Usability of Gnome could of course always be better, but
> >   it is good enough to let people use our computers who
> >   have had very little exposure to computers before 
> >   (see above) with very little help by us.
> > 
> > A previous technical implementation of this project (then
> > at the Hauptplatz in Linz) had Windows 98 on the clients
> > and stuff was a lot more troublesome then (virus problems,
> > hijacked homepages, people installing porn as background
> > images, driver problems, etc.) basically then always
> > approx 30% to 50% of computers were out of order,
> > as far as I can remember. Now it is never more than
> > 1 or 2 at once, mostly hardware problems (10 year
> > old CRT monitors "burning out" during hot summer
> > days, dead mice etc.).
> > 
> > Current shortcomings: Sound could be better (currently we 
> > use esd).Local media (floppies) are not that important, but a 
> > *good* solution for that is missing too. These are
> > of course problems of the terminal server setup,
> > not of Gnome itself.
> > 
> > Currently we have 9 seats for our users, 3 in our 
> > office, and the one Windows PC (we "split up" our
> > organisation, and created a "Verein" for this
> > project, I think we had more stuff back when I
> > wrote you first). I don't know if that is large
> > enough as to be interesting. Currently there 
> > are some 300+ active accounts (different users).
> > 
> > We are hoping to expand and add some more computers
> > in another room, but we will have to ensure funding
> > first (it is a permanent "fight" to get the money
> > we need to cover our operating costs), but above 
> > numbers are our current status quo.
> > 
> > I think I could also give you some DVDs on 
> > Medea (we were originally a "sub project" of
> > the Verein Medea), but I think that there
> > is very little relevant to gnome on these
> > discs, but maybe they can give some background.
> > Otherwise we have very little promotional
> > materials.
> > 
> > Just to make sure that people are here
> > when you come, our office phone is
> > +43 732 91 85 00, my mobile is +43 650 7257443,
> > and our internal mailing list is pangea-intern lists servus at
> > (a mail there might help if I do not respond ; ).
> > Also please tell me if there are certain aspects
> > that interest you, so I can prepare something.
> > 
> > Looking forward to your visit, and thanks for your
> > great work for Gnome! We (and our users) benefit
> > from it every day.
> > 
> > /ralph
> > 
> -- 
> Murray Cumming
> murrayc murrayc com
> www.murrayc.com
> www.openismus.com
> 
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