Canadian Federal Government Mulling Open Source?

An anonymous reader points out a CBC report discussing a request from the Canadian government for information about open source software and free proprietary software. Evan Leibovitch, an advocate for open source, says the government's interest was spurred by a desire to reduce expenditures during the recession. "...Leibovitch said he hopes the request will lead to government policies that give 'a level playing field' to vendors of open-source software services, who provide technical and administrative support to companies that use open-source programs. He alleges these service providers currently face barriers when competing with proprietary software vendors in the government procurement process. ... When the government purchases software, it often assumes that it will have to pay for a licence and asks software vendors to bid for the contract, McOrmond said. Vendors of open source software services don't respond to that initial call for tender because they have no licences to sell. But then, the government might ask for a separate round of bids for providing support services for the software, which open-source vendors could provide."

Comments

Guess who's a Mormon?

[WED Fan]

Growing up in southern California, there were a lot of Mormons in the neighborhood and at school. I always wondered at the need for validation as they would trot up and say, "Did you know the guy that created 'Battlestar Galatica' is a Mormon, and the guy that plays the boss on 'WKRP' is one, and guess who else is...?" and so it went. There were rumors that Bill Cosby was secretly baptized and that Michael Jackson was "taking the discussion" (bet you they are glad they dodge that bullet and he went JW).

It seemed every new rumor provided further vindication that they were right.

Off topic? No, completely on topic.

It seems that at least once a week, someone trots out the breathless news that government agency X from country Y is looking at Open Source/*nix/or is taking the RMS Holy Discussions of Conversion.

Face it, it's as obnoxious as all those little Mormon Missionary Wannabes.

Find your validation from within.