Here's a story you might be interested in. It seems these folks don't feel able to migrate Newham's government computers from Windows to Linux for a number of reasons, principally because of costs associated with upgrading Exchange Server. They say there is no Linux desktop that will support that "the out-of-date collaboration server". Anyone know a solution or a workaround?
Other issues are cost of retraining and some loss of functionality, they say, in OpenOffice/StarOffice compared to Windows. Perhaps someone reading this will be able to list some solutions or offer a helping hand, especially if you are located in London. And for the rest of us, notice how the total cost of ownership FUD worked here.
"Newham Borough Council has shelved its Linux desktop trials and will remain with Microsoft, citing the cost of upgrading its Microsoft Exchange Server software as a primary cause.
"The East London council's trial was one of nine Office of Government Commerce supported local authority open source trials announced late last year.
"But Newham's use of Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 foiled this plan, primarily because there was no available Linux desktop client to support the out-of-date collaboration server. . . . "Gary Barnett, principal analyst at Ovum, commented: 'The biggest issue in cost of ownership studies is cost of migration. [Newham] has hit on a classic example.'"