TCLUG Archive
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: [TCLUG:2215] Free(ware) MN Initiative..




> -----Original Message-----
> From: UserCx@aol.com [mailto:UserCx@aol.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 16, 1998 10:58 PM
> To: tclug-list@listserv.real-time.com
> Subject: [TCLUG:2215] Free(ware) MN Initiative..
>
>
> I came across this in the mn.general and thought I would share it.
>
> http://www.freedomain.org/u/lls/writings/free-mn/19981003-free-mn.html
>

	For those of you who didn't check out the link, the above is an open letter
to the MN legislature asking them to pass a bill requiring the state's
workstations and servers to run on free software exclusively.
	Maybe it's just me, but I don't think this letter is really doing open
source any favors...  Naturally, I think that government, like everyone
else, should definitely investigate OSS and use it where appropriate.
However, the idea that it should be mandated by law has a fanatical, even
totalitarian ring.
	At the very least, this seems a little short-sighted.  Government computer
use isn't limited to copies of MS Word cluttering up receptionists'
desktops.  Servers in the police departments, tax bureaus and elsewhere are
using customized systems for which no open source replacement currently
exists.  OSS could take some time to produce feasible replacements for
specialized systems which have to interact succesfully and securely with
similar systems nationally or worldwide.
	The author seems to be of the opinion that his proposal would save
taxpayers money -- and no doubt there is money to be saved by using Linux
instead of NT, Sun or Novell.  But so far as I know, there is no free
operating system capable of running on the many HP 3000s and 9000s, VAXes,
and other big iron which are still cluttering up the back rooms of every
department from Education to Public Works.  Chucking these systems
unnecessarily and completely replacing the services they provide with
brand-new systems, even ones running open source, isn't going to
significantly reduce anybody's tax bill.  Besides, in a state which has had
a massive budget surplus two years running, government cost-cutting doesn't
sound to me like a huge priority -- if the state could just get its
accounting in order, we could all be dealt a sizable tax break without all
that recabling and heavy lifting.
	Frankly, suggesting that the Legislature mandate Linux/OSS on all its
systems, preventing individual departments from making their own software
acquisition decisions, almost sounds as though it was intended to be taken
as satire.  Isn't the antitrust action against MS supposed to be about
*restoring* freedom of choice?

--
Eric Hillman - UNIX Sysadmin
City & County Credit Union
ehillman@cccu.com
The opinions expressed in this message are my own.  You can't have them.