Slashdot Mirror
Open Source in Government: Newport News, Va.
Sam Hiser writes "Open source in government is getting real. Tom Adelstein, in this penetrating interview with Andy Stein, the CIO of Newport News, Virginia, gets to the heart of why the opportunity to build collaborative software pulled the former chief IT architect of Capital One into the public sector. Police, fire and EMT early responders -- and the IT systems that support them - are under Sisyphean pressure to perform, while budgets are sagging. Something's gotta give, and it's going to be the aging software infrastructure in our towns and cities. Are Open Source platforms the only economically viable alternative? Maybe not, but collaboration will have to occur if we want to build the systems to save our lives."
Are Open Source platforms the only economically viable alternative? Maybe not, but collaboration will have to occur if we want to build the systems to save our lives."
And while we are at it.....in addition to city management and taxation for those issues, if we want to reduce the cost of medicine, an open source alternative to the current software with open standards is the way to go for medical health care, health insurance and billing. How much of our current medical system is devoted to billing, reimbursement and trying to transfer and manage data? It's a lot.
A standard open source health care database and form that is managed by the federal government that can be accessed by hospitals, insurance companies, states and individuals is the way through the nightmare that has become managed care. It could even tie into other open source government databases discussed in this article to improve the documentation of medical emergencies which may result in a further reduction of costs to governments and private citizens while also increasing the quality of care.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
"Open source products, including Linux, are very attractive development platforms with a low barrier to entry."
This entices me, but then I think I could just be spending time at the bar down the street, checking out the local girls with very attractive "development platforms" and low barriers to entry.
I personally would prefer that a government use an open system of well, anything, when it comes to running our vital services, as long as that information doesn't compromise security. The idea of a widespread open source initiative sounds like one of what may only be a small number of ways of getting our cities into the new millenium in these number-crunching times. That's just my take on it, and IANACIS (I am not a city infrastructure specialist).
"I cant wait to see how long I have to stand in line at the DMV next time."
Well, from my experiences, things got worse when Arizona's MVD left OS/2 with a text interface to go to Windows with a GUI interface for the DMV tellers. Their solution has been to build more DMV offices and hire more workers rather than to get rid of those inefficient PCs and switch to something centralized like a terminal/server model with a well-designed interface.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Are you in Hampton Roads (Southeastern Virginia)?
Check out the Tidewater Unix Users Group (www.twuug.org) for linux/bsd/commercial users! Free open group that meets once a month.
Also, there is a Hampton Roads geek mailing list on www.hrconnect.com.
With any luck, Virginia Beach will also look into Linux as a viable alternative, especially after getting hit with an audit from Microsoft (as reported earlier on slashdot).
Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
Here in NYC, the police, fire, EMT and every other emergency responder under the Sun has carved out their own protocols and equipment for communications, few of which interoperate. Even after the WTC collapse, which cost so many lives (including NYC's Finest and Bravest), the "brass" are defending their communications "silos" from interoperability at the cost of efficiency. Reliability is paramount, so the leaders don't trust "foreign" tech, especially if it's fairly new, and outside their traditional operations.
In NYC, we stay on top by picking winners. Whose municipal communications have recently been revamped in the public interest, which NYC could use as a model? Where can I find a good example of transcending organizational barriers, especially in the area of "wireless" (digital and analog radio) networks? I am due to deliver such info to the Mayor and City Council during 2004Q1-2, so Slashdotters have an opportunity to really make a difference here.
--
make install -not war
Instersting interview though. I think government is one of the most natural places for OSS though. Government is (or should be) open to the people, as is OSS. And people are always trying to find ways to do Government cheaper, since the money we give to our cities (say for the Water Department) should go to Water Department stuff (new pipes, etc) not making sure they have the lastest version of Soliare that comes with Windows. Free software is a great way to save costs while getting things done (and staying secure too, because I don't want that dang Mr. Smith down the street to know I spend $7.23 more per month on water than he does :).
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I'm consulting for an industrial control firm that installed and maintains some of the industrial control stuff over there at Newport News, and it's all done with proprietary stuff like VMS, and most of the other systems on that net are Windows based. There's not any open source stuff at all on that subnet as far as I can tell (except maybe for whatever parts of the GNU toolchain end up in the images Cisco distributes for their routers).
Although some industrial control and SCADA firms are moving towards porting their stuff to Linux, many customers are very opposed to anything without 20+ years of history behind it. They all seem to be very opposed to this idea of hiring non-vendor people to support their software or to depend on software with a planned lifespan of less than 10 years or so. I think they'd have a revolt on their hands if they forced the city infrastructure departments to use open source stuff, based on the comments I've heard from some of the people working on the project.
-- thalakan
I wonder if this would work. In general, for those guys in charge of Open-Source projects out there, did you build your software based on personal interest, or some real-world requirement you'd heard about or experienced?
Or perhaps something like this already exists?
I checked, there is no penetration.
Latest implementation of the Halloween Memo can be found here
If you have been exposed to Economics 101 you will have a field day reading this pseudo Research unfortunately published by a real university.
You will be glad to know that FOOS will fail as there is "No market at the core" and it does not provide an optimal allocation of resources.
He kind of forgot the benefit to the user of lower cost but who is counting.
Read more over at Groklaw by the way
Help fight continental drift.
it means "Endlessly laborious or futile". In short, it comes from the Greek Legend of Sisyphus. He was an extremely gifted mortal and the gods grew jealous, so they comdemned Sisyphus to ceaselessly rolling a rock to the top of a mountain, and letting it roll back down again, hence the endless futile labour.
Open Your Mind. Open Your Source.
Governments like to buy "complete solutions", which is to say, they'll take whatever OS comes on the computer so long as it does everything they want. What it'll take is somebody willing to sell PCs pre-loaded with OS software that fully duplicates the functionality of a standard Windows PC, and able to produce them in mass quanities.
Police, fire and EMT early responders -- and the IT systems that support them - are under Sisyphean pressure to perform, while budgets are sagging.
... and that the deed got done, because that's the kind of guy Hercules was.
....
Beware the metaphor my son -- the jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
"Sisyphean pressure" sounds impressive, until one considers that Sisyphus never once completed his task.
On the other hand, "Herculean effort" makes clear that a lot of heavy lifting went on
Let's hope that the EMT's who respond to my heart attack are less Sisyphean and more Herculean
-kgj
-kgj
I am a God fearing hardworking (computer engineer no less) American. I support opensource. It has been nothing but a benifit to me. I have learned more from the ideals of open source than from any class or text book I read in college. I dont think you really understand what open source is all about. You should do a litte more research before you make such comments. People in the OSDN are volunteers because they believe that if everyone on earth had some input into something then it would be as close to perfect as possible. Its the difference between some guy at a desk in oh say redmond under a deadline and turning out code quick enough to meet his deadline with no regard to the quality. Now say if he had about 300 teammates that process would go much better and the code would be more efficent. These people also belive that knowlage should be free. How is that such a bad thing?
If I wanted easy I wouldnt be an engineer or a patriot.
The Register is reporting :
Last year, the city of Munich, Germany opted to go with Linux instead of Microsoft software on more than 14,000 desktop computers. This was seen as a significant setback for Microsoft and a clear sign of Linux' increasing viability. But now the project is in trouble, according to Computerwoche.
This Spring, Munich needs to finish a migration plan as well as present a budget for the project. But according to Computerwoche there is not enough money and technical difficulties may result in stalling of the LiMux Project. In particular, smaller software vendors seem to be unable to migrate Munich to Linux, simply because they lack open source knowledge.
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That's all it says.
So not really Linux' fault all those German NT admins and Microsoft Certified Solution Providers can't get their head round it all.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
Maybe someone with first hand knowledge can comment, as this will most certaintly hit the popular press and it might be prudent to know the facts.
Help fight continental drift.
Open source in government is getting real.
I assume that you mean the United States government. Open Source has been chosen in implemented by governments all over the world. I, for one, am eager to see the United States follow the international example for a change. I hate to nitpick, but it seems that people all-too-often mistake government to mean the U.S.
I think that this would be an excellent test case for Open Source in the U.S. government. Considering the number of U.S.-based lawsuits over open source products, I think that this could finally bring the viability of using open source as a cost-saving measure to light so that local and state governments all over the United States will jump on the bandwagon and learn what we already know. Frankly, we need Open Source to be given more legitimacy in the United States as, outside of geek circles, it is all-too-often seen as a communist OS made for hobbyists... I know, I know, this makes no sense, but does most things?
I can see the wheels turning now:
"Wow. If a government deeply rooted in capitalism and who has good reason to demand security is willing to implement an Open Source product, it must be good."
When asked if the SCO case concerned him, the interviewer answered: "It further complicates the decision-making process and promotes uncertainty" and I have to agree. That is why this would be such an important, powerful move. A government opting to use Open Source software is what will promote Open Source certainty. We need folks with power standing up and saying the same thing he did when he said: "Linux has shown itself as a stable and a solid performer in the server area." What a great opportunity for this to be heard!
Software will break and the process of bringing it back to operation needs to be reliable. With open source software, the support structure is not always clear.
I can't resist. Yes, M$ software breaks. That off my chest, I think that Linux has shown itself to have a very strong, if slightly disjointed support structure. And, where there is a need, a solution will be forged. Perhaps they can take the money they were throwing into the software and support structure, and use it to financially support an organized Open Source Support structure. Less money, better software, better support.
The final point they made was a great one:
"Citizens can call their City Council representatives and voice their opinion. It is their tax money at stake. The promise is more and better services for less."
What a great idea. Not just for the places concerned in this article, but in our government as well. Perhaps if enough people called their representatives (who may or may not be tech savvy and who may or may not even know what Open Source is), we might possibly see this realized.
LOL. Creating The Slashdot lobby? Neat.
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"We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
Oh how I know this is going to get me flamed! Mention VB, and get ready for Slashdot Hell. But anyway...
One problem that Linux has is a smooth development platform with a great IDE, and widgets (widgets make the "enterprise" IT world go round!) Borland C Builder is very nice, but please keep in mind that the sucsess of VisualBasic is not only because an idiot can make an exicutable. It is also because it is in fact possible to build good apps in a very intuitive way.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
They also like to go with the biggest back-handers so don't write Microsoft off too quickly.
I have a friend who works at the Underwater Naval Warfare Center here in Newport, RI. He develops code that runs automated warfare and fleet movement. He says that about HALF of their 3000 machines are running RedHat Linux.
I was amazed to hear this, because there seems to be almost no Linux penetration in RI, only 7 users are registered here on LinuxCounter. I also have only seen one Linux box in RI in actual use (outside University), and it was just being used at a router at a non-profit.
Every time I asked a boss or a client about using Linux for menial purposes (file/print servers, routers/firewalls, etc.) They practically laugh me out of the room. I finally found a job that's OSS friendly, but it's in Boston where people have their heads on straight.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
It's not the baker's fault you can't bake a cake out of a turd and have it taste good.
I have a horror story about the BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) in Toledo, OH. While this was in 1999 - it was a major problem.
I walked into the office stating that I needed to acquire a new drivers license. The clerk asked me to sign in with my name and SSN, handed me a stub of a pencil, and pointed to the list sitting OUTSIDE of the sliding glass window. I nearly sh*t my pants. I had in my hand 40 or 50 names, along with their SSNs, which I could easily have mined for malicious purposes.
I looked around the office and saw about 20 people who I wouldn't trust with my enemy's life, let alone 2 parts of my Identity.
It kinda reminds me of the time the US Post Office thought they were going to launch a pay-per-email scheme, when I had already had a free Yahoo account for at least a year.
God help us all.
May the Universe continue to bless itself - through You!
Stuff that matters.
Throw this idea of collaborative open source development in local government in front of the voters and they'll love it. This is a great opportunity for the open source movement to get some real popular sentiment behind it, and any politician that jumps on it will find it an even safer way to get elected than rigging, sorry, 'redistricting' his own electoral boundaries.
The cash-strapped cities will benefit. The citizens will benefit. The open-source movement will benefit. Everyone's a winner. Apart from Micro$oft.
It's such an elegant idea. Think of the amount of duplication that will be eliminated!
Drill baby drill - on Mars
...How about you?
I read the article, went to my city's home page (www.weho.org) and submitted a comment to the city council. Short and to the point: I have long wanted governments to increase use of OS because it will lower costs and improve transparency of government operations. Here's a collaborative project they could get involved in (article link). Please consider. And since I actually live in a city that's small and progressive enough to think about it, maybe something will happen.
But seriously, that's what the article asks us to do. So if you like the idea, don't just say so here... tell your City Council. Tell them even if they're a bunch of decrepit morons firmly entrenched in a monolithic and incomprehensible government bureaucracy. Tell them even if it's a couple guys who meet on weekends to go over the problems of a tiny population. But *especially* tell them if, like me, you live in an urban municipality with a progressive, community-supported government and a decent median income.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
...Open Source.
SLG admins + managers are in it for the pension. Risk usually does not bode well for those who are lookin for security and retirement after 25 yrs of service.
For Newport News this looks like he was able to make a mark for himself and got lucky. Most admins and managers that I talk to do not have this luxury.
To advance and therefor get a bigger pention they need to be able to pass on the torch.. Open source is "too complex" to pass the torch on to risk averse admins and managers.
Finally; 'free' does not look good to those who do not spend their own money (they spend our money). You need to spend budget to get budget.
Personally I think that ease of use and simplicity need to be priority #1 to get Open Source into Government.
Despite all the wailing, I'm betting you'd be hard pressed to find many governmental entities that are actually going to get less money this year. When a bureaucrat says "cut," that generally means less of an increase than expected, not less actual dollars. During the '90s, goverments got used to fat increases each year and built those expectations into each successive budget. Then when the good times ended, suddenly instead of 5, 6, 7, or even 8 percent increase, they got 1 or 2, and it looked like the end of the world.
Most of us have recently seen an increase in news reports about open source software showing up in governments. Most of those reports seem to dramatize an upcoming battle between Linux and Microsoft. Rarely do we see information on the pros and cons of collaborative software development.
It is difficult to have a battle when one side will not show up, and the other side's weapons will not work without rebooting several times.
(Insert bullet. Detected new hardware, please reboot. Loading drivers, please reboot. Shoot. Insert bullet. Detected new hardware...)
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I learned about programming in the late 70s-early 80s. I started learning by reading code in magazines. I figured that someday I would share my code in magazines. Source was open because everything was interpreted.
I naively thought that was how software was shared. I thought that all programming would be shared. Write once, or find someone else's version, then never write that function again.
I grew up and entered the corporate world. I wrote code, and it was shared inside the company. We did not really have a method to share with other companies.
Then the internet. All the source was open, at least for HTML pages, and continuing when JavaScript was added. Sharing was mandatory, because the "code" was still interpreted.
But we also had these new things called software companies. I learned Pascal by reading the source to Visicalc. I have never seen the source for Lotus123 or MSExcel. How can I fix or add to it? How do I learn from it?
Then I read about RMS and FSF and GNU. Sounded good. Why were businesses using proprietary programs when they could collaborate and get what they wanted cheaper? I still have not heard a good answer, other than management DOES NOT WANT any responsibility they can avoid. They prefer a fixed cost every year to a single effort that produces something that exactly fits their needs.
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For example, in October I noticed that one of my clients had an incredibly poor process: bad UI for input, little error-checking during input, more human resources dedicated to fixing the bad data than to entering it.
I built a prototype of an application that would solve all that, run on worse client hardware than they were using, and allow remote access. It would integrate further up and down the process, so the people collecting the data would also input it. It included a similar business process that had not been automated yet. I arranged a meeting with management, and I demonstrated it to them.
It turned out that for several years they had been considering an "industry standard" software package to improve this process. My demonstration was the catalyst that caused a decision to be made. They "chose" the industry standard. My software was:
- cheaper in the short term. (They are my favorite client. I had built the prototype for fun. I wanted them to use it to demonstrate other skills that might have led to more business. So I told them to pick a price a little lower than the first year of the other product.)
- free in the long term (I was giving them all source. The industry standard is proprietary and charges annual licensing.)
- better suited to their business. (I built it for them. I know how they think. I know how they will use it and what output they expect. The industry standard is, well, standard.)
- better integrated with their current software. (I BUILT THE CURRENT REPORTING SOFTWARE. My prototype was built to easily transfer into that program. We had already proven integration with the other backends. I do not know how the other product integrates, but IT is already complaining.)
- better ownership. (Forget the source. The industry standard uses the ASP model where the proprietary company owns your data!)
I have had every person involved with this process, except the decision maker, tell me that my "prototype" was already better than the new product.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.