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Oregon Government Supporting Open Source
amountlad writes "In a pair of articles released today on N4N.org, Oregon continues to lead the way in government open source adoption in the USA. The Oregon State University's Open Source Lab will host a Government Open Source Conference in October. The GOSCON has strong support from within the state government. The State's Department of Administrative Services released a white paper detailing their use of Asterisk for audio conferencing for more than 500 conferences a week. The set-up includes a web-based interface for judges to manage recording the hearings. In doing so the State joins Metro, a Portland area regional government which uses Asterisk along side its Beowulf Cluster."
I happen to know that Microsoft has a rather large contract with the State Govt. Offices most if not all of my state's Office computers. A few years back I used to work for a Tech company that had a contract to service the computers for the state. They were all running WIN 2K and 98. If one state starts to move to Open Source soon more should follow. Decreasing MSFT's domination in the maket. Nice thing though, both systems should still need to be services on occasion so there's always going to be tech support work. :)
Generation Trance: What generation are you?
Uh, I think you're off by a few orders of magnitude there. Care to post some supporting evidence to that silly statement?
The average computer uses as much as seventeen swimming pools worth of coal to run on any given day.
I'd like to see the math behind that point please. Show all your work, and include just how much tonage a swimming pool is. I don't know what the conversion ration of tons of coal to kilowatts is- so include that as well. You might also want to compare it to the hydropower and wind power we enjoy out here on the left coast.
I do know that the computer I use most of the time can run on it's 900mah battery for up to 2 hours straight without a recharge while playing full motion video.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Why do people post such retarded comments about how bad Linux is and how joe six pack can't use it? Joe six pack can't even use Windows...
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
I suspect it's our general culture (at least here in the Valley) of being kind of leftist. Look at our political history of passing laws for public health care (The Oregon Plan), doctor assisted suicide (which the feds, I believe, overruled), and other related "freedom to do whatever" type things. The desert dwellers (Eastern Oregon) don't usually agree with us, but there aren't enough of them to overrule us on most things. When you have something that's so obviously a cost saver, they don't even bother to fight it.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
I know. I'm from Oregon. Oregon is just a liberal place. And, yes, admit it, Open Source/Free Software is very liberal.
There's a lot of Open Source activity here in Oregon, anyway, without the government. For example... what's that guy from Finland? You know, the guy who founded some big Open Source project? Whatever his name is, he lives here.
Then again... Washington and Oregon are both on the west coast (and blue states). So if you mean, by proximity, "on the west coast", you're right.
Before you walk a mile in someone's shoes, you should insult them so you know how they are and what they're doing.
As cost to run a Government go up, and people refuse to pay more taxes, alternate cheaper ways will hbave to happen.
My advice, on your time, think about what Open sourse products could replace the ones you have. Then set up a test enviroment in your home.
Once you confirm, to the best you can, that it does work write a paper then sit on it. The very next time someone in managment complains abouit cost, tell them:
"I can write you up a document on products that do they same work, but for less money."
Then tune the document to fit that scenerio.
Then email it to that person. If you can, schedule a meeting to discuss the work this wil be doing, and invite his boss, and other managers.
Then do a 3-8 minute overview, do not tell them it is free. The reason for that is they know NO software is free. This is true, you have the associated costs for installation, training, maintainance.
Address those costs. The costs that the agency is spending on current items is a matter of public record so you will know what price point you will need to break.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Finally! I was beginning to worry that our proximity to Mordor^H^H^H^H^H^H Redmond was going to completely screw over any chances of Open Source spreading around here. I mean, I knew about OSU's heavy support and involvement in OSS, but that's completely different from getting the government to back it. Actually, one of the local school districts has a policy banning the use of Linux in any way at school. Not well enforced, thank God, but it has been enforced in the past.
Maybe this will also lead to loosening up on other Microsoft bindings, too. Nearly all colleges in the state, for example, do only Microsoft certification. Apparently, there is only one college that does non-MS certification. Let's hope that changes soon!
Remember, open source is free as in speech, not free as in bear.