Selling Open Source on the Campaign Trail

Waldo Jaquith writes: "I'm a long-time advocate and user of open source and free software and, as of this morning, I am a candidate for the Charlottesville, VA (USA) City Council. Naturally, I see lots of areas in Charlottesville's IT infrastructure (as well as potential areas of expansion) where Linux and various free software projects would be ideal. But can I make that a talking point while campaigning? How do I make that concept accessible and interesting to 40,000 citizens?"

Comments

State the problem. Show tha Linux is the solution.

[skoda]

Fundamentally, you need to be pushing a solution to a problem people care about. Or you need to provide a better way of doing things, that is worth the hassle of accepting. Change for change's sake is scary to voters. And if you're trying to push Linux just because it's l33t and r00lz, then quit now; you're just wasting people's time.

If you can demonstrate that using Linux will...
- Reduce computer costs and free up more money for education...
- Make it easier for kids to get computers, to play and learn with (and so develop future job skills)...
- Have a proven track record of being more secure against attackers...
- Will enable computers and related services to more available, more quickly to e.g. rural areas than otherwise...

...then you've got something you can sell to non computer-geek voters.

You need to simply identify how using OSS well improve your would-be constituents' lives.

It's the budget

[metis]

I'd say the most important way you can effectively sell Open Software is as a cost saving measure.

• reduced cost of licencing
• reduced cost of licence compliance
• reduced cost of dealing with security
• reduced waste in government offices (open software tends to have less feature-creep, which means less time doing stuff that shouldn't be done at all (like writing your memos in three columns).

Issues of freedom come second. The problem is they are more abstract, difficult to grasp, and non-local. And you are not running for President so your voters might not care about your opinions about copyright and copyleft.

Of course if you were running in Berkeley, things might be different ;-) but you aren't.

How is this a municipal issue?

[EisPick]

Would you vote for a landscaper whose campaign speeches were treatises on the merits of hardwood mulch over pine bark mulch? Or an auto mechanic who promised to improve the performance of the city's vehicle fleet by switching to synthetic motor oil?

I know I wouldn't.

If you're running for city council, stick to the top issues in municipal government: schools, taxes, crime, etc.

At most you might say something like "as information technology becomes increasingly important to the successful managment of any business or government, our city council would benefit by having a member who understands how to apply IT tools to improve the function of city government." But leave it at that.

Re:Easy

[xmedar]

Also look for distributions and OSS projects based in your area, and ask them would they rather give money to Bill Gates or have it fueling the local economy. remind them that Microsoft has $38BN in cash just sitting in a bank account, doing nothing to help the US economy out of the slump. Plus you can tell them how much more secure the software is, how OSS contributes to "Homeland defense", how less time and money will be wasted on trying to get Microsoft to support their products, how the inherently "free" nature meshes with the pioneering and intensely meritocratic spirit of America. If all else fails try this as a slogan / soundbite "Mom, apple pie, open source and America, you know it makes sense"

Re:It's a different kind of accessibility...

[arkanes]

IMO, a (good) secretary is much more likely to be able to handle staroffice or any other wierd thing you thow at them than thier boss will be. It's the VP who doesn't really USE his computer for anything besides e-mail and powerpoint that refuses to learn something new, not the secretary who spends all day actually USING thier computer and probably can adjust to a new word processor in no time.

Good Answers, Everybody

[waldoj]

Thanks, folks. The answers that seem to be the most correctish are the ones that read "what are you, stupid?" The point being that this is a topic of such piddling interest and without bearing on the Real World(tm) that it has nothing to do with a city councilor, least of all with a campaign. It's the IT guy's job, end of story, for the most part. I had suspected this to be the case, but figured that it was something worth asking /. about.

Now I know. :) Thanks, all.

-Waldo Jaquith