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Hi James,
I run a Linux and Open Source consultancy company in Denmark. During the last two years we have helped in two pilot projects with af total of 500+ users and helped a number of smaller companies and organisations (total 400+ users) migrate to OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 (19; years ago).
We have typically used 3 hours of education per user to "convert" their existing Office knowledge til OOo knowledge (with strong focus on Writer and Calc). This is usually enough for the majority of users. Some of the organisations didn't stay with OOo after the pilot (a that time due to problems with Excel kompatibility, Macros and political reasons1;.
Education has per invoiced as per user per class. Support on fixed price during the pilot and by the hour afterwards.
Most issues has been e.g.
- This function I know from MS Office - how can that be done in OOo
- file convertion questions (MS Office - OOo)
- Help with using Styles the best way
We didn't have any "dumb" questions. Most questions that did have a solution was solved within 15 min. Questions that turned out to be related to non-existing functions in OOo or plain bugs took some more time to try to solve, make worksrounds and report to openoffice.org.
I think that after the first few weeks you will see very little support insidents, but you wil have to spend more time on each. Support is not more than similar Office suites (none mentioned, none forgotten). You will need to judge your users level before you estimate their need for support- our users were all well educated and motivated professionals with experience in other office suites.
Feel free to email me directly if you need more advice (although I will be on holiday the next 2½ weeks with no mail access.
Kind regards
Torben
Casalogic
Denmark
Venlig hilsen
Torben Sjørman Sørensen
; Casalogic
Nattergalevej 6
2400 ;København NV
3; Tel. 7020 1063
Fax 4484 4787
www.casalogic.dk
>>> Fre, mar 17, 2006 kl. 4:39 pm skrev openoffice hillj.co.uk i meddelelse <20060317153925.GA3503jmstop>:
Hello BizDev Mailing List,
I was wondering if any of you would be kind enough to answer a few
questions regarding your experiences with openoffice in the commercial
world.0;
I run a business in the UK thats mission is to bring open source
software to the business world, and I'm looking into the viability of
promoting and supporting openoffice.
The basic model is to charge businesses a yearly fee, and in return
install openoffice and upgrade it once a year, and offer support
services.
What I would like to know is:
Once OpenOffice is installed on a typical windows desktop4; how often
will people be likely to ask for support3;
How much support is typically asked for?  (How long does the typical
issue take to resolve1;.
Is anyone in the UK offering OpenOffice support already3; If so, maybe
we can team up. &nbs
p;If not, would anyone be interested in using my
support services?
Kind Regards4;
James Hill
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> The basic model is to charge businesses a yearly fee,
and in return
> install openoffice and upgrade it once a year, and
offer support
> services.
>
> What I would like to know is:
>
> Once OpenOffice is installed on a typical windows
desktop, how often
> will people be likely to ask for support?
I have only got it on about six desktops but I can't think
of any cases
where I've had any major problems. Users sometimes need
assistance with
more-than-average complex numbering/formatting needs and
those who aren't
spreadsheet-savvy need a bit of hand-holding but other than
that I have no
problems. Documentation for most of the open source products
is always the
down point though; I have wanted to point a user at the help
on several
occasions but I know it is either insufficient or not
clearly laid out.
And yes I do know that I can contribute to making the
documentation better,
I hope to do this one day