[Sussex] Open Source and the Government.

[Geoff Teale]

Mark H wrote:
-------------
> It's clear that there's little understanding of the concept of the GPL
> in government / public sector circles.

Actually there are several people in the public sector who do understand
these things - even in companies likes the dreaded EDS there are people who
understand these things - trouble is they're all geeks and as such they get
written off as being geeks (to business people and civil servant alike
"geek" is a put-down).  This was my experience at Thomson as well.  The
point is, if you want to ask a question about law you goto a lawyer or a law
professor - you don't go and ask a company with a vested interest in
twisting the law to there benefit.  Unfortunately the IT industry has grown
up such that the majority of people look to the visions of the heads of
major corporations.  Both the current government and my former employer
(actually my former manager really, the company as a whole might have taken
a different approach) look at it like this:

Geek:	"Did you know we could save masses of money and deliver more robust
solutions using Open Source software?"

Manager/Beaurocrat:  "Oooh, that sounds nice.  Oh, but hang on, a moment,
this article in my trade  magazine (Getting to grips out of Windows XP) says
that it's not a good idea.  Ha ha, I leave that to you geeks thanks very
much".
 
> I wonder how much of this stems from the use of the word "free". The
> term "Free software" does NOT give over the impression of quality and
> supportability, however true the reality might be.
>
> I wonder if third-party consultants started using the term 
> "Open Source"
> software, and including references to companies like IBM who use it,
> then it might not be an easier sell than "free"?

The majority of companies vending such software do use the phrase "open
source", the arguement you are making is the same one used to justify the
new name in the first place.  How much difference this has made to sales /
take up is hard to quantify.  I imagine there are some people who can't get
past the "Free" thing - it's interesting that SCO, ne Caldera, found that
companies are happier to use their Linux product if they charge a per-seat
fee than if they just charge for media and support - how random is that. 

Funnily enough some markets (education and scientific research) are filled
with people who hold the concept of Freedom in the GPL sense very highly as
the foundation of what they do - these markets can (And are) being sold the
idea of Free Software very succesfully.  According to the folks at MIT,
students in the USA are now choosing between universities to study computer
science at on the basis that they'll learn a lot more at a University that
uses and produces Free software.

Anyone who studied OS design in the 1980's or early 1990's probably owes any
understanding of the operation of a modern operating system they gained to
the efforts of one man - Andrew S Tannenbaum, unfortunately MINIX was viewed
as widely irrelevant to most universities by the early 1990's as they
clammoured to give students practicle experience of DOS and Windows - LINUX
has now turned the tide - by providing an environment where students can
learn how an OS really works but cen also be justifed as a real-world,
commericially focused tool.

-- 
geoff.teale at claybrook.co.uk
tealeg at member.fsf.org

"and the mighty multinationals
have monopolized the oxygen
so it's as easy as breathing
for us all to participate"
- Ani DiFranco "Your next bold move"




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