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The Largo solution is to put four terminals in the break room, and load them only with Mozilla and Evolution, and encourage workers to surf, chat, and play online all they want during their lunch hours and other breaks.
Many IT shops might hesitate to put in something like this; those that run PCs would need to supply and maintain four complete computers, including (no doubt) Windows, so they’d need to have virus software kept up to date and take care of all the other chores that go along with running a standalone computer. But none of this applies in the Largo IT scheme. The four thin-client units in the break room were purchased for $2 each on eBay and take no maintenance, and besides the client pieces all you have is keyboards, mice, and monitors, and these are not costly items. The biggest thing that makes this sort of niceness possible, though, big enough that it’s worth saying over again, is no maintenance!
This is a great example of what can be done when you focus on the essential needs and resist the feeping creaturism.
. . . . few of the IT people in other governments seem to understand Largo’s resistance to Explorer.
“Why don’t you just download Explorer? It’s free!” is what Dave says many of his counterparts in other governments often tell him. He says most of them don’t understand that even though Explorer is “free” it needs Windows licenses to run, and that buying those can add up in a hurry — and (although he’s certainly too polite to say it) — not having all those Windows licenses is one reason Largo spends less than half as much on IT as many other local governments.
“I see this as being like a virus,” Dave grouses.
This is an increasingly loud rumble as people start to see how little interest there is in innovating Explorer now that the competition has been neutralized.
how a little skill, a little gumption, a little intelligence, a little imagination, and a lot of resistance to “following the herd” can lead to amazing IT cost savings — and, at the same time, to better and more reliable IT services.
It’s always harder — but more satisfying — to think for yourself.