[Sussex] Long live the revolution!

[Steve Williams]

Can't let this one go by without comment.

Frankly the NHS Management can't run a bath. It's record of managing large
IT projects is dismal, so choice of software would not make much difference
to successful implementation, but would make a difference to the vast waste
of public money (i.e. yours and mine).

This is where the government comes in. Remember those halcyon days of
"whiter than white" "tough on the causes of sleaze" New  Labour in 1997?
They lasted about as long as it took for Bernie Ecclestone to CHAPs transfer
£1,000,000 to Labour funds, achieve a change of policy, and then have the
convenience of having his dosh refunded when the crap hit the fan. Does
anyone now believe that "New" Labour doesn't accept more than just the odd
bung on the QT?

Unfortunately, no matter how much this sort of thing attracts the attention
of the Public Accounts Committee and Opposition Parties in the House of
Commons, the government has such a majority of toadying sycophants that it
can do what it wants. It prefers to debate issues like this in the meeja
where they can expect a less rigorous and hostile reception.

In the days of CCT (Compulsory Competitive Tendering) this sort of contract
would have been put out to tender, but CCT was part of the hated Tory
apparatus and was an obvious candidate for the chop, along with tax rebates
for pensioners' private health premiums, ACT relief on pension funds,
TESSAa, PEPs, local government structure and all the other Tory stuff that
may not have been glamorous but at least worked. Now CCT has been replaced
by some wishy-washy lefty "Best Value" tat where the rigour of CCT has been
replaced by much more nebulous guidelines far too open to Ministerial
interference.

My own opinion is that open source software is improving at such a rate that
it will soon be a serious competitor to M$ stuff on the desktop. I suspect
that SuSE 10.3 Professional v M$ Windows ZP & Office 12 will be a
no-brainer, even to the Neddies in the Ministries.

Hopefully at that stage anyone with a half decent knowledge of Linux, and by
that I mean pretty much everyone in the Sussex and other LUGs, will be worth
10 times their mass in gold!

Now, as far as being Yankee lap dogs, I vote for that any day over further
euro-integration! The EU is so corrupt it makes Keith Vaz look like Mother
Teresa. They sacked the only auditor with the nuts to speak out - that's
real open and honest government for you! The Americans also speak the same
language and have similar culture, and our currency and economy are more in
sync with theirs than any in europe.

The final thing is that the Americans don't want to take us over, unlike the
EU. I rather like our country, government of shysters excepted, and
appreciate other nations dealing with us as we are than trying to impose
change against our will.

Otherwise, I'm all for promoting Linux and Open Source stuff in general, and
I'm sure its' future is secure.

Long live the Revolution!
Vote Tory!
Take Cover!!


-----Original Message-----
From: sussex-admin at mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:sussex-admin at mailman.lug.org.uk]On Behalf Of Geoff Teale
Sent: 21 January 2003 11:09
To: 'sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk'
Subject: RE: [Sussex] Long live the revolution!