UK Conservatives Slammed Over Open Source Stance

Golygydd Max writes "The UK government has been criticised by the opposition Conservative (Tory) party for its lack of support for open-source software. Now, according to Techworld, a security company that has examined the Tory plans has come out against the use of open source software, citing the number of security problems inherent in the software. This is a sensitive issue for the UK government, still smarting from the loss of 7m family records from HM Revenue and Customs in 2007. What makes this criticism interesting is that this is an attack on the policies of what will certainly be the next British government — it's unusual for a party to be criticised like this before it comes to office. It's an indication of how IT is going to be a battleground in the future general election."

Comments

Re:Just another way to fight...

[jjohnson]

Labour are historically the party for the working man, formed out of the unions, however, in recent years they have figured out that the working man is significantly less likely to invite you for a spin on their yacht, so have shifted their position a little.

And this is different from the Democrats how?

[The Torys] stand for strong family values, but are actually quite likely to be found having a three-way homosexual romp in a public toilet while their wife is at home taking care of the kids.

And this is different from the Republican party how?

Re:Unrelated statistics

[Lord Bitman]

Because they, like every other sane person, does not directly manage their web server, or likely even directly manage their web site.

The "if you don't like open source, why is the thing your opinions are posted on using open source!" argument is dead, because it is so stupid.

Re:Hmmmm....

[funkatron]

I think part the problem is that in the UK we get no political education whatsoever, kids grow up without a clue as to what left wing and right wing are,

It doesn't take long to figure out that they're the same.

what the different flavours of conservatism for example are,

The same.

what liberalism and libertarian are and where our parties sit in these areas.

In general they sit in the same place.

We're never taught the importance of voting,

Choosing a colour.

or how our vote can effect the outcome of an election,

And not the laws made afterwards

hell most people don't even know what the house of Lords is,

Surprisingly, the lords seem to have more sensible ideas than our elected representatives (when they're not being bribed).

they think parliament is one big single chamber of sheer boredom.

Two chambers of sheer boredom, huge improvement

I find this quite shocking, because whilst I can see the merit in music class, religious education, art and so on I really do think politics is perhaps more important, yet oddly entirely neglected. I could quite happy have lived without the hour a week spent in music class, or the 2 to 3 hours spent on English literature (although language is of course important), I understand some people do want to know this, but it should've been optional whereas I'm not convinced politics should be.

Try getting that through parliament without being accused of indoctrination.

Next Government?

[cloakable]

what will certainly be the next British government

Dear God, I fucking hope not. And will NOT be voting towards that outcome.