[Fwd: [Marketing] OOo in Stockholm, Sweden]

[Erwin Tenhumberg <Erwin.Tenhumberg@Sun.COM>]

FYI

News from Sweden.


Erwin

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• From: =?iso-8859-15?Q?Lars_D=2E_Nood=E9n?= <larsnooden@openoffice.org>
• To: OOo marketing list <dev@marketing.openoffice.org>
• Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2006 07:42:09 -0400 (EDT)

Here is an unofficial translation of a discussion of OpenOffice.org in 
Stockholm's city administration.

-Lars

http://computersweden.idg.se/2.139/1.47174
The City of Stockholm investigate moving to Openoffice

In September, the consultation report which determines if the City of 
Stockholm can move from Microsofft Office or Openoffice shall be ready. 
But already now the project leader Andréas Rydén is convinced that it 
goes.

"It is not especially complicated or expensive to convert the existing MS 
Office templates to Openoffice", says Andréas Rydén at Omicron.

The pilot project to try Openoffice in the City of Stockholm started in 
March.  Several administrations do not have upgrade contracts for MS 
Office 2003 which puts them in position to choose between MS Office and 
other packages, at the same time new users need programs.

According to a feasibility study there are potentially large savings.  It 
costs specifically between 3,000 and 3,800 SEK per user to upgrade 
versions of MS Office.  To switch to Openoffice costs only 795 per user.


The Potential Exists

The City of Stockholm has around 25,000 users.  All, except for less than 
a thousand, have MS Office 2003.  And it is expected to increase by an 
additional 25,000 new users who shall share 5,000 computers during the 
coming years, see the article "Stockholm can save millions with 
Openoffice".  Here is a potential for savings.

- But we cannot make a calculation based upon this information, there are 
many factors to take into account, says Christer Marking, information 
strategist for the City of Stockholm.

He names integration with fundamental systems such as business systems, 
maintenance and infrastructure as examples which cannot be managed in the 
project that is going on now.

It is being carried out by three consultants from Eminds, currently part 
of Omicron Ceti, with András Rydén as project leader.
- The goal with the pilot project is to see if there are alternatives to 
MS Office.  We have already completed similar studies, for example at 
Handlelsbanken, which show that it is possible, says Andréas Rydén.

Around 50 users in the City of Stockholm are participating in the project.
- We have an assignment to continually evaluate open programs and seek and 
alternative.  This project is a small part of that work, says Christer 
Marking.

An eventual move to OpenOffice lies several years in the future, but the 
license costs for MS Office become large when all staff in the city get IT 
support.
- We always try to keep down our costs, says Christer Marking.


More than words
One can always ask what the point of using MS Office when it is so much 
more expensive than Openoffice.
Klas Hammar, who is responsible for the business area Information Worker 
at Microsoft Sweden, wouldn't specifically address the City of Stockholm's 
project, but he did have a handful of stock arguments to offer.

-We see MS Office as much more than wordprocessing and spreadsheets.  It 
is a collaborations platform which is integrated with our other programs, 
he says.  Klas Hammar questions if it is necessary to switch from MS 
Office 97 to Openoffice.

- I see no important points where Openoffice is better than MS Office 97 
in the question of word processing and spreadsheets.


-----
Sidebar:

Licenses and training

The calculated cost of between 3,000 and 3,8000 SEK per user for upgrading 
{sic} to a new version of MS Office includes the following numbers:

 	Between 2,000 SEK and 3,000 SEK per license,

 	800 SEK for Adobe Writer to create PDF files

The cost of 795 SEK per user to move to Open Office includes the following 
numbers:

 	20 SEK to convert templates

 	150 SEK for training of technicians

 	625 SEK for training of users

Lars Noodén (larsnooden@openoffice.org)
 	OpenOffice.org: Now ISO 26300 Standards Compliant !

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