Migration
From OpenEGov
When people discuss migrating to free software, they are often talking mainly about the desktop; replacing either Windows or applications such as Office running on Windows. Although there have been various such migrations already in the UK, and more are in progress, there seems to be little widely available documentation of the process in the UK. The process as implemented so far is a fairly non-radical step, involving only minor changes, and not very different in nature from a switch between different proprietary suppliers (in this case, generally from Microsoft to Sun, IBM, or Novell). While this may simplify the process it does not on its own achieve the full gains possible from using free software.
For example, if migrating to Open Office, Word macros may simply translated into their Open Office equivalent; alternatively, advantage could be taken of the open format of Open Office. This has allowed the development of modules such as the perl Open Office Document Connector, which can generate document metadata or templates from an external application, easing document management and removing the dependence on one-off macros.
Even a simple migration is likely to create the need for Change management. Some of the specific issues around this are discussed in the IDA migration guidelines, which are generic guidelines provided by the European Union. These are also the basis for the Brazilian government's migration guidelines, which must be the world's most practical and detailed. Unfortunately they are only in Portuguese or Spanish. I would love to translate this, if anyone would like to fund me to do it Graham 11:58, 11 Dec 2004 (GMT)
Migrating to OpenOffice in local councils
IBM have produced a Linux client migration guide which is quite detailed, though not specifically geared to government deployments.
