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.gov.au Guide to Open Source Software

Posted by timothy on from the stop-paying-redmond dept.

kieronb writes "The Australian Government Information Management Office has recently released "A Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies". Surprisingly, it actually appears to have been written by someone with a clue, and provides quite a balanced overview of what F/OSS is and how it differs to proprietary software. Choice quotes: "Sourcing OSS solutions is a new and less understood area for Government Agencies. As a recult, it often seems to involve higher risk. As open source solutions become more mainstream and agencies gain expertise in evaluating and deploying them, this perception of risk should subside."; "Access to source code is, however, valuable to agencies by virtue of the economic flow-on effects that accrue when multiple vendors offer competing products based on the same technology. Access to source code also reduces the risk of vendor lock-in.""

8 of 144 comments (clear)

  1. About bloody time Australia by __aawfbm2023 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Finally we don't look like a bunch of flaming drongos.

    1. Re:About bloody time Australia by aerthling · · Score: 3, Funny

      For those who don't speak Australian

    2. Re:About bloody time Australia by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Surely you meant the barbie

    3. Re:About bloody time Australia by Bug-Man · · Score: 1, Funny
      We rarely (I have only seen it once in 26 years) throw prawns/shrimp on the BBQ and we never drink Fosters either.

      No, because Fosters is what we export to those unsuspecting Americans :)
    4. Re:About bloody time Australia by masklinn · · Score: 2, Funny

      Damn UserFriedly readers

      --
      "The way we can tell it's C# instead of Haskell is because it's nine lines instead of two." -- wadler
  2. Re:Government views on F/OSS by aussie_a · · Score: 2, Funny

    You should be modded +5 naieve. I hear Microsoft.com.au is going to be making a press release tomorrow.

  3. Typical by gowen · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it any surprise that a nation descended from the worst convicts and criminals England could throw away would eventually align itself with Open Source Software, well known throughout the world as a transparent price-fixing scam... :)

    --
    Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
  4. Of course we drink Fosters ! by anti-NAT · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes, we love our Fosters, it is the best Aussie beer ever. I personally drink 3 pints of the stuff with breakfast, lunch and tea.

    Shh! We've got to let them think we drink camel piss ..ur... Fosters, so we can keep all the good beer to ourselves.

    --
    The Internet's nature is peer to peer - 20050301_cs_profs.pdf