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Open Source in Government
A reader writes: "There is a feature running on NF about a conference this October. More information can be found on the conference website." It's worth pointing that despite the fact that the conference is two days long, the organizers have asked for material submissions to be included in the conference handbook. So, if you've got some materials/thoughts, start polishing them up.
Well, let's see. The one really big one that comes to mind is this company (maybe you've heard of it) called IBM. Database programs with support include Oracle, SAP and PostgreSQL (you can get support from them via contract if I remember correctly.) Same is true with MySQL, you can buy support from them directly. Basic Linux OS support can be purchased from most of the commercial distributions directly. You can also either retrain your current IT folks in Linux or, if they're too resistant, fire them and hire folks with more up-to-date skill sets.
There's plenty of support for Linux solutions, but just like anything else, you have to do some shopping and research.
The one thing you'll notice quickly about Linux is that once you're up and running, your _need_ for all that "service" you're used to with MS product dwindles to a trickle. It's one of the benefits of a really robust environment. There are a couple of links to TCO articles and Linux on the Linux Today site which you really should read if you're serious about considering Linux.
Concerning opensourse developers bidding on government-generated contracts, I don't know.
Hope this helps,
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
We work fairly closely with the state for alot of online stuff, (manage a state, county and local websites, state agencies, web apps, that kind of thing) and we're a big open source shop... we've had developers that have worked (in spite of our stupid IP-owning contracts) for open source projects such as FreeTDS. We use Apache, Perl, tomcat, mysql, Postgres, Linux. Yeah, we have some commercial stuff here too, Oracle, Informix, and some commercial dev libraries. On the whole, we use open source when we can... we're a pretty geeky shop and management doesn't care how the job gets done as long as it does get done, which makes for a pretty cool environment to work in, as we can play around with all sorts of different methods.
Having said that, pushing Open Source in government, (ANY government, at least here in the US) is very tricky... this is changing a bit as security is becoming a bit of a critical issue for many agencies, and the "don't ask, don't tell" policies of many commercial shops w/r/t security is starting to wear thin. However, for the large part, commercial vendors still run the show. Our states' information management services division is very much a buzzword-du-jour type shop, pimping the latest redmond-hyped technology, often to the detriment of the taxpayer (when a simple open source solution would suffice just as easily, and cost only labor...) Of course, finding someone who can run a few "Wizards" to cobble together some microsoft apps into a work system is alot easier than finding people clueful enough about open source to make it work really well...
Also another prevailing attitude is the good old "you get what you pay for" stance, although this varies from place to place... the reaction covers the scale from "We don't want no hippie-pinko crap on our network" to "You can save us how much????"
Hopefully as time goes on, the attitudes in government towards open source will shift further towards the positive, but I think that this could take quite a while. Just a few thoughts....
Ita erat quando hic adveni.
Too easy. You go to Mysql Services.
The other MAJOR problem is that the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. The building I work in has 10 floors. Each one of these floors has their own computer room, it is massive BTW, and server/network teams. They ALL use different equipment for the SAME tasks.
On thing I see open source fixing is the buying process.
Okay, fine. But what operating system hasn't had massive security issues?
This was '98. RedHat had huge security problems back then (installing most services by default and open etc).
2.2 was a very stable and reliable kernel, and since the 2.5 branch, I've been using the latest kernel on all of my high demand enterprise servers.
Linux still have problems in the highend with the VM issues. Which is why they're changing the VM again for 2.6 (or whatever).
Yes, but they are shallow bugs. Read RMS's article, the Cathedral in the Bizarre, located here [gnu.org] for more details.
Bugs are bugs. And I don't think the recent bugs in openssh, openssl, and apache were shallow.
Hahahahahahaahhaha. That's a good one. Maybe you haven't heard about the GPL, but under Linux's license you actually are required to release your experiments to the public. Try doing that in Windows!
No, you're not. Nowhere in the GPL does it says you have to release your experiments to the public. Please reread the GPL. Only when you distribute you're changes to the software, do you have to rerelease the changes to GPL. Also, GPL doesn't allow you to put your derivative works in the public domain. There are no problems putting derivative works (works linked against libraries in Windows) in the public domain.
And finally,
Wow, now that strikes me as a lot of FUD. Do you work for Microsoft?
Maybe you need to get off your high horse and reread his comment again? He said those comments were not his, but rather his auditor's comments.
Je ne parle pas francais.
Let's see:
- IBM gets German government contract
- MandrakeSoft wins French government contract
- IBM sells Linux to Air Force & other government agencies
Looks like IBM has you covered again. I'm pretty sure most fire/police/ambulance services operate 24/7 too.For the type of service you want for a system with Linux machines, I think IBM probably is the only way to go at this point.
I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar.