<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 4:46 PM, James Taylor <<a href="mailto:James.Taylor@eastcobbgroup.com">James.Taylor@eastcobbgroup.com</a>> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
I've been following this conversation for awhile, and this statement reflects my observations about driving change in the commercial environments I've worked in.<br>
<br>
Any time a major change has been implemented, it is usually as a result of an absolutely have to have incentive. Without that incentive, all obstacles, no matter how minor, are insurmountable. With the incentive, all obstacles, no matter how major, are insignificant.<br>
<br>
In order to drive change you have find out what the organization needs that can be provided by your solution that cannot be provided by the current solution. It almost always has to be something that they don't currently have. If it were, it would be change (bad) as opposed to something they can't live without that they never knew they needed before.</blockquote>
<div><br>Like the overall cost of implementing Vista in a school system is becoming a soon-to-be mandatory thing. Even if the software was a gift to the schools, the overwhelming majority of the hardware would have to be replaced. The same situation exists for the transition to the Mac environment. While this is a negative avoidance situation (choosing open source over windows/mac) that is a big incentive - extreme cost avoidance. The GSA contract price for a Vista running Dell bottom of the line desktop is $425. That's with a crappy keyboard, mouse (not optical!) and a small lcd monitor. To that cost add set up and installation and network configuration plus any additional software (about another $100 per seat total). For about $25 less per seat that just the hardware purchase (depends on scale - more clients = lower overall cost per seat), a fully installed Linux thin client environment can be up and running with all new hardware clients, servers, switching, monitors, keyboards, optical mice, patch cables, etc and stuffed to gills with software. Add to the cost picture the overall savings on power and cooling and parts (thin clients have no moving parts to wear out).<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"><br>
<br>
-jt<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
James Taylor<br>
The East Cobb Group, Inc.<br>
678-697-9420<br>
<a href="mailto:james.taylor@eastcobbgroup.com">james.taylor@eastcobbgroup.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.eastcobbgroup.com" target="_blank">http://www.eastcobbgroup.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
>>> Daniel Howard <<a href="mailto:dhhoward@comcast.net">dhhoward@comcast.net</a>> 6/21/2008 10:38 PM >>><br>
<br>
...show them why a thin client architecture makes sense and<br>
<div class="Ih2E3d">what they can do with it is well beyond what they currently do. I'm<br>
guessing that a new capability/software application will trump any<br>
resistance from supporting an old application, especially if I can show<br>
them they can still do the old stuff if they really want to.<br>
<br>
Still learning in Atlanta,<br>
Daniel<br>
<br>
--<br>
</div><div class="Ih2E3d">Daniel Howard<br>
President and CEO<br>
Georgia Open Source Education Foundation<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
Ale mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a><br>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale" target="_blank">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- <br>James P. Kinney III <br>