MESSAGE
| DATE | 2015-01-15 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] Linux Job Crunch
|
Can someone explain this to me? Is there a Linux Desktop Job Crunch
that Ican get work in?
Mayor of Munich Dieter Reiter has been quoted as saying he is a
'Microsoft fan'
Image: Regani under CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
Reiter has publicly criticised the move to Limux, having been quoted as
saying open source software is 'lagging behind the proprietary IT
vendor's solutions' and that he is a "Microsoft fan".
More recently he attacked the performance of the city's IT department as
a whole, describing an email outage as unacceptable. An internal
investigation determined the incident in December had no link to Limux
and was related to the city's external email server accumulating a back
log of some 20,000 messages after an email was sent with a unusually
large Subject header.
Hofmann asks Reiter to give the IT staff time to adjust to new working
practices.
"Please give the existing IT organisation - and above all the people
working there - a chance to prove themselves under their own steam," she
said.
The council needs more IT staff to work on new projects in a variety of
areas, such as e-government and network security, according to a
spokesman. The council undertook some 390 new IT projects in 2014, with
a recent council report describing the number of projects as
"continuously increasing".
"Currently the shortage in IT specialists and administration staff is
still at about 20 percent. it-at-M [the company responsible for IT at the
city] will continue to look for qualified employees," he said.
What's next for Limux?
Ahead of a review of how IT is run at Munich, council staff are to be
surveyed about the problems they experience using Limux and how the open
source desktop works with third party applications.
"The aim of the survey is to get a general idea of user satisfaction
with IT in general and with the desktop computer in particular," said
the council spokesman.
The survey is expected to be issued at some point within the next few
months and that it will take another two months to compile and evaluate
the results.
The findings will be used to draw up a definitive list of issues users
have with IT at the council and potential ways to resolve them. It will
also provide a measure of the user satisfaction to the consulting
company that will carry out the review of Munich's IT. The consulting
company is yet to be appointed.
Why other organisations in Munich are sticking with Windows
To help it decide how to run its IT, the Munich authority also polled
larger affiliate organisations in the city about their IT estates and
what had driven their choices.
Concerns about not being able to find the staff to manage a large-scale
Linux desktop deployment and free software played a role in persuading
large organisations to stick with Windows.
The city's municipal works department rolled out Windows 7 and Microsoft
Office 2010, citing the difficulty of finding qualified IT personnel as
a factor that discouraged it from moving away from Windows.
Commenting on the findings, Jim Zemlin, executive director of The Linux
Foundation, said the foundation is aware of the need for a larger number
of people with the skills to maintain and develop Linux-based operating
systems within large companies and organisations.
"Preliminary findings from our annual Linux Jobs Report, to be released
in February, show nearly 88 percent of hiring managers are having a very
or somewhat difficult time finding adequate Linux talent. This is why
The Linux Foundation has expanded its efforts to train Linux
professionals with expanded training courses, a free Intro to Linux MOOC
with edX, and the new performance-based Linux certification programs."
Nevertheless, the difficulty recruiting staff is only one of the issues
raised. Generally the Munich-based organisations surveyed gave the fact
that Microsoft products are the "standard" as justification for sticking
with them - referring to the need for compatibility with third-party
software and to be able to easily swap information with partners.
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