[OPLINTECH] Open Office Software

Wed Jan 23 09:35:28 EST 2008

This isn't a direct response to Chad or James or Ed.  It is instead just a 
general thought I have about OO and MS Office.

The cost of Office 2007 Professional  for a library should be somewhere in 
the ballpark of $55 if you buy it from a source other than your hardware 
vendor.  I see a lot of libraries simply paying too much for Microsoft 
Programs.  When a library sends me a quote to check out for them, that's 
always the first thing I look at. Usually looking at the quote is followed 
up with, "Why don't we buy Office from Educational Resources with the 
Purchase Power Agreement instead."

With that said, it's a fairly simple and inexpensive way to put a piece of 
software on a patron (or staff) machine that will make users comfortable (if 
that's what they want). On patron machines, I would venture that a $55 
dollar investment in software, coupled with a free download of OOo would 
probably reduce staff involvement enough to pay for the cost of the license.

I'm not trying to sell Microsoft products- I'd venture putting Office 2007 
on the same computer with OOo would eventually drive people to use the Open 
Source solution.  However, I don't think for the time being it has to be one 
or the other.

Trav

Travis McAfee
Technology Coordinator, NORWELD
mcafeetr at wcnet.org
419.352.2903
800.848.0144

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mann, James H." <JMann at gcpl.lib.oh.us>
To: "Ed Liddle" <eliddle at marysvillelib.org>; <masontj at manasst.com>
Cc: "Chad Neeper (list)" <cneeper at level9networks.com>; <oplintech at oplin.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Open Office Software

> Ed
> You're young and may have never heard of "techno stress" LOL.
> IMHO if you have staff who wants to use OOo, Office 2007, or Macs for
> that matter go for it.
> If you want to offer patrons an open source cd so they can breathe more
> life into their older home computers....bless you.
> But I'd be a little cautious about unwinding 11 years of techno stress
> on the part of the public service staff by moving away from Microsoft.
> This isn't to say that you couldn't do a series of programs to retrain
> your staff but than again, and I think that it's what Tom is saying, is
> that you're into the "free like free kittens" paradigm.
>
> BTW: Have I ever shared the true and expensive story of $100 Kitty?
>
>
>
>
> Jim Mann
>
> Technology Coordinator
>
> Greene County Public Library
>
> Xenia Ohio 45385
>
> (937)352-4000 x1210
>
> mailto: jmann at gcpl.lib.oh.us
>
> Humor is always based on a modicum of truth Have you ever heard a joke
> about a father-in-law? -- Dick Clark
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
> On Behalf Of Ed Liddle
> Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 8:53 AM
> To: masontj at manasst.com
> Cc: 'Chad Neeper (list)'; oplintech at oplin.org
> Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Open Office Software
>
> What is the cost of retraining staff to use office 2007 vs OOo or heck
> even retraining staff to use vista vs linux vs mac instead of windows
> xp?  How much time will be taken up from answering questions from
> patrons about using office 2007 vs using OOo ? That would be just as
> interesting for me to look at.
> Reference librarians get paid on an hourly basis to answer questions. It
> is after all part of their job. I am not sure what difference the
> questions make. Some questions are easy to answer, some are harder. I
> don't see where the cost spent on answering office application questions
> is any different than other questions.
>
> I tend to think that something as common as an office suite should not
> require much cost to train someone how to use it if they have used other
> office suites and are familiar with how to use a computer, access the
> internet etc. If you decide to use a different office suite do you
> enroll in training classes at a place like new horizons or a class at
> your local community college to learn how to use it?
> I personally just start using it, exploring where everything is in the
> menus and use the help menu or online help I find from using google to
> do what I need to get done.
>
> For library patrons who have never touched a computer or an office
> suite the "training" would be the same regardless which office suite
> they use. Personally I think it would be more beneficial to train a
> patron to use something that they could obtain for free to use at home
> on their PC rather than teach them how to use something they may not be
> able to afford for their PC at home, or may obtain illegally to use on
> their home computer.
>
> -Ed Liddle
>
> On Tue, 2008-01-22 at 20:30 -0500, Tom Mason wrote:
>> To further add a business slant, does someone have a cost
> justification
>> spreadsheet comparing the 5 year rotational cost of MS office versus
> the
>> support cost of OO?  We change our customer's version of Office when
> they
>> demand it or every 4-5 years.  At $60 AE cost per PC, that's $12-15
> per PC
>> per year.  That's also a high cost compared to larger volume purchases
> such
>> as Cleveland Public may make.
>>
>> I don't know the Open Office compatibility well, but I assume it works
> well
>> from Chad's comments.
>> All schools train students on MS Office use currently and most
> businesses
>> use MS Office(95%?). I'm just trying to figure out why and how the
> library
>> can pay someone to re-train the staff, patrons, students who need Word
>> because of teacher's requirements, etc, for the less than $15 it costs
> per
>> year per pc or less for education/library customers.
>>
>> I don't think there is a justification for the time spent making the
> change,
>> answering questions about versions, compatibility and so on, so I'd
> like to
>> see the cost/benefit analysis that someone has done that includes
> Reference
>> staff time, support staff time, consultant time, and user irritation
> time
>> (with having to do something new).  Based on past experience, I would
>> anticipate an average of 60 min staff/support per day per 20 pc's,
> answering
>> questions, retraining new staff, explaining to staff and patrons, etc.
> 20
>> pc's cost is $300 per year for licenses for MS Office.  A librarian is
>> conservatively $50k cost per year with benefits.  1 hour is roughly
> $24 x 52
>> = $1250/year versus $300 MS office Cost.
>>
>> Is this a good subject for study, for techs to know about and continue
>> watching? Of course.  However, the extra costs may be better spent on
> books
>> or new PC's, more bandwidth or fulfilling more user requests.  No
> survey
>> I've seen says the public is demanding OO vs MS Office.
>>
>> Btw We don't sell MS Office or MS software to libraries other than the
> XP
>> OEM we put on the new custom computers we build.  We've been
> supporting
>> libraries for over 15 years in multiple states.
>>
>> As Chad says "fwiw".
>>
>> Thomas Mason, MCSE, AANG, Sr. Consultant
>> Management Assistance, Inc.
>> Manufacturing, Academic and Government Solutions
>> "We make it happen for you!"
>> masontj at manasst.com 440.355.6962 Fax:440-355-4355
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org]
> On
>> Behalf Of Chad Neeper (list)
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:39 PM
>> To: oplintech at oplin.org
>> Subject: Re: [OPLINTECH] Open Office Software
>>
>> To add a business slant:  I've been exclusively using OOo for business
>
>> for four+ years now. There's no going back to MS Office or Corel
> Office
>> (both of which I've used extensively in the last ten+ years).
> Especially
>> within OOo Calc (think Excel or Quattro Pro), I can attest to the
>> completeness of the feature set and compatibility OOo has with MS
>> Office. OOo is pretty much a no-brainer compared with MS Office.
>>
>> When it comes to the schools and libraries I support, I've been slowly
>
>> introducing OOo. I think Chauncey's comments about staff adoption are
>> spot-on. Some of the staff take to it right away with no problems.
>> Others are resistant to change and don't want to take any time at all
> to
>> adjust to a different program, even though the OOo interface is
> similar
>> to that of pre-2007 MS Office.
>>
>> For what it's worth,
>> Chad
>>
>> -----------------------
>> Chad Neeper
>> Senior Systems Engineer
>>
>> Level 9 Networks
>> 740-548-8070 (voice)
>> 866-214-6607 (fax)
>>
>> --   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
>> -- Specialized in libraries and schools --
>>
>>
>>
>> shivelri at oplin.org wrote:
>> > Hello, I am the IT Specialist at Greenville Public Library and we
> have
>> > started to use OO for some of our patron and staff computers. I was
>> > curious as to how many other libraries are using OO and what their
>> > experience has been with it? Do the patrons get along fine with it?
>> > Does the staff?
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> >
>>
>
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