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Open Source In Public Sector Meeting Opposition
Open Source movements have been gaining popularity everywhere, but not everyone is happy about that. Johans wrote to mention a ZDNet Asia story discussing a controversy within the Malaysian computer industry over the government's 'Public Sector Open Source Software Masterplan. From the article: " ... the government has stated that its first choice in IT procurement are infocomm technology solutions developed on the open-source platform. It states that 'in situations where advantages and disadvantages of open-source software (OSS) and proprietary software are equal, preference shall be given to OSS' ... However, some industry consortiums have stepped out to voice their concerns over this policy." Meanwhile, Anonymous Coward wrote to mention a Fox News article entitled 'Massachusetts Should Close Down OpenDocument', calling the attention of journalists to the 'huge mistake' that Massachusetts is making by switching to OpenDocument. From that article: "Officials in the state have proposed a new policy that mandates that every state technology system use only applications designed around OpenDocument file formats. Such a policy might seem like something that should concern only a small group of technology professionals, but in fact the implications are staggering and far-reaching. The policy promises to burden taxpayers with new costs and to disrupt how state agencies interact with citizens, businesses and organizations."
Why am I not surprised that MY lucid and well reasoned post is responded to by a poorly reasoned screed, that even worse
DIDN'T ADDRESS MY POINT.
"Fox News freely mixes opinion and fact without clearly differentiating between them, and often runs with the "talking points" published by a daily memo from the RNC - this is a known fact, not an opinion and not a speculation."
Well, two things. One, EVERY news source mixes opinion with fact, it is the nature of reporting to exhibit some bias. So it's ridiculous to use that as a basis for dismissing news sources, because you'd have to dismiss them all.
Second, "talking points" is a phrase that is synonymous with "opinion piece", or sometimes "propaganda".
Why are you moaning about an opinion piece that calls itself an opinion piece, especially when your initial criticsm of Fox news was that it was
"a news source that has been shown multiple times to have subtly deceived it's viewers en masse".
Seems a little silly to hammer them for calling their "talking points" exactly what they are.
Reconsider your biases, and maybe you'll figure out why you refuse to acknowledge that even when you disagree with someone, they may still have valuable information.