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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."
It may not be PC, and I reckon I'll be labelled a troll, but the word on the streets is the Canadians use more common sense than us.
The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
Most likely, it'll just end up with them getting better offers from Microsoft and other companies - but a policy of promoting open source as a preferred quality in software is still at least a good philosophy to promote.
There's likely still too much of a practical dependence on folks who will only be comfortable with the idea of using Windows to just do any major switch - but the change in policy to demand a more even playing field will likely reap great rewards, as it has with many other nations making similar decisions.
Ryan Fenton
Mulling simply indicates the early stages of contract renewals, not necessarily a tug on the tiller.
SameOldSameol...unless they wake up before signing day and understand that it actually takes money to renew a contract, in which case, given the times, 'free' has a nice ring to it.
I just do not understand why a government "just mulling Open Source" as the headline says, is news worthy. It's just a gimmick. For this to even have a chance, Open Source Software would be alive and well in Canadian schools but this isn't the case.
Rem,ember this is one country without a domestic car concern...the only such country in the entire so called G8! Canada? Give me a break!
If it's Debian-based: Ehbuntu
If it's RPM-based: Toque
Anybody want my mod points?
Give it time, they may be "mulling it over", but by the time Microsoft spreads a bit of cash and fud they'll be back in the fold... The more things change, the more the corruption remains the same...
sp. Eric Leibovitch should be Evan Leibovitch, I know him and think he'd appreciate the correction ;-)
They're going to get a visit from the chair throwing monkey dancing CEO in the MS corporate jet. Probably playing Flight of the Valkyries as they swoop in from the south.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Face it, it's as obnoxious as all those little Mormon Missionary Wannabes. Find your validation from within.
Your analogy is slightly off because the little Mormon Missionary Wannabes were mostly born into it and don't know any better.
Open Source Zealots have mostly chosen their belief system based on the fact that open source is free and it usually does the same job as closed software.
Doesn't matter how someone came by their religion, proselytizing is always annoying.
Proselytizing is always annoying only if you don't agree with the subject matter. For example, I can listen to Richard Dawkins proselytize about science all day, but I don't want someone trying to convert me to homeopathy. /. there is an assumption that open source is generally considered a good thing.
Because this is
It is Evan Leibovitch, not Eric!
Fix the typo in the summary.
2bits.com, Inc: Drupal, WordPress, and LAMP performance tuning.
Canada is primarily a Windows shop, but there are many Solaris, BSD and Linux server machines all over the place. Desktop use is very limited, but there are some. The primary problem with desktop use is Active Directory and Exchange. Lately, MS Outlook works fine on Crossover and Active Directory is handled well by Samba Winbind, so the barriers are falling.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Open Source software was part of the Green Party's very thorough and thoughtful election campaign. Too bad most Canadians never bothered to read it.
I see it still features on their web site as a current issue. With a minority government in power and the threat of a coalition or vote of non-confidence always looming, it's hard to say how much pull the Greens really have, having failed yet again to win a seat in parliament.
I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
I am only responding to your last statement. As a Canadian who has visited many areas of both the US and Europe, I can tell you that Americans are the only people who DON'T respect Canadians. You are AC, so I don't know what nationality you are, but if you are American, believe me, you guys are some of the LEAST respected people in the world.
Yes, I have some Karma to burn!
Americans are the only people who DON'T respect Canadians.
If this is because of manipulation by the fourth estate, then I can say that several countries may still be practising this today.
Here in little Sg, my country's newspaper used to skew towards bad news for other countries, and good news for the home country.
you guys are some of the LEAST respected people in the world.
Similarly, when we Sg'reans travel overseas, some of us are well-behaved, but some of us display downright ugly behavior. Yes, some of us are downright arrogant due to our status as compared to our neighboring countries, forgetting that credit goes to our grandparents' (and not us) for building up the nation.
In the one game, that you would absolutely and totally win every time, you don't play, because of such a silly problem?
You have licenses to sell. Licenses for $0.00! Is that so hard? And if they are not accepting that, then give them some fantasy value, that is much lower that everyone else, but still above their bullshit limit. After all, it's not illegal to sell open source. No matter how you turn it... There is a way to always win this thing, but you do take it? Come on!
Some people just have to be hit with a cluestick... many times... ;)
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Unless you're talking to Europeans who are knowledgeable about our enormous carbon emissions
Linux is used all over the Government. As are lots of other open source pieces of software. This study is primaraly to get it moved toward the desktop. That is to make the PHB more confortable with it.
Undetectable Steganography? Yep, there's an app fo
http://documentation.wikia.com/wiki/METRo
http://metpx.sourceforge.net/
http://iti-iit.cnrc-nrc.gc.ca/colloq/0708/07-10-25-print_e.html
usage: http://openconcept.ca/blog/mgifford/what_people_arent_saying_about_nrcan_wiki_and_gcpedia
Stage 1 complete.
I'd say Microsoft is well past ignoring Linux; at least well past completely ignoring Linux.
They're well into fighting it, and ridiculing it as part of the fight. And ignoring it in fewer and fewer places.
Stage 1 complete.
Doh! Parent was obviously talking about installing Gentoo ;-)
Let me start by observing that anyone who generalizes based upon nationality is falling into a trap. People are people; shaped by their environment, sure, but incredibly diverse in nature. I've met my share of people from all over the world. Some were asshats, some were kind and generous almost to a fault. Personally, I never noticed that any particular nation had a monopoly on one extreme or the other.
As to American attitudes towards Canadians? I can't speak to your personal experience. I can say that I grew up in northern Minnesota just 100 miles from the border. We used to have Canadians down for skiing trips all the time. When they came down, they were ready to party hard. The running joke was that only a Canuck could out drink a jackpine savage (our local version of a backwoods redneck, a community which I am still proud to consider myself a member). :)
Unfortunately, some Canadians gave the rest of you a bad name by being belligerent drunks. Should I have assumed that all Canadians were asshats because of that? Or would you rather that I just regard those individuals as jerks and not representative of Canadians as a whole?
To quote the punchline to a very old joke, "Can't we all just get along?!?" :)
Tell you what. In the words of Arlo Guthrie, let's start a movement. Instead of protesting war and stuff, we'll just aim at learning to respect and trust each other. I won't judge all Canadians by a small handful of drunks if you'll accept that not all Americans are rude jerks. Then all we have to do is find a Brit who isn't a soccer hooligan (should be pretty easy, actually) and we've got ourselves an honest to God English speaking love fest going. Add in a Quebecois or two, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and a Mexican and we'll have the start of a North Atlantic love-in! Then we add a Brazilian and a Namibian and we've got the South Atlantic covered! W00t! Can you see how it could grow? :)
Hey, I can dream, can't I? :D
Read the summary closely:
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.
Think about what this means. I may be reading too much into the word "separate" here, but hear me out.
If the government first buys software, then buys support, then the ability of open-source vendors to make a real bid is constrained by the choice of software made in round one.
If open-source vendors compete to support the same platform, then advocating the use of that platform in round one is basically being the pioneer with the arrows in the back: you bear the cost of enabling both your own business and the business of your competitors. I see some incentive problems lurking in the shadows there.
I think it would make more sense to have a single bidding round where every party offers solutions consisting of software and support. That's the thing the customer really wants, and that would make everyone compete without screwed up incentives.
Am I talking crack, or do you think I'm on to something?
Yeah, you should quit proselytizing your lack of beliefs. Begone, quit preaching.
It's been a long time.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
This seems like a good thing. I'm all for more open source software in government.
Our current government is however composed of half-wit partisan hacks. Genuinely bush-light.
"...government's interest was spurred by a desire to reduce expenditures during the recession."
They say and do mind-blowingly stupid things like that while presenting their spending stimulus bill.
They will look for ways to reduce government spending while looking for ways to increase government spending.
Heck of a job Harper.
God help us all.
Yeah, but it happens all over the world, every country has their little cousin that they look down on. Australians have New Zealand, England have Ireland, Germany has Poland...
No knot-holes to put it in.
Didn't think I'd catch that, did you?
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
The interesting aspect here is the domino effect and the platform building. If one government does it more governments will follow. Microsoft is aware of that. I can also point you to the European Software Strategy speech of Reding:
I applaud the effort by government IT to have more in-house knowledge about open source software (and about what software offerings are available in general).
But I don't really understand what it is about the procurement process that is a barrier to open source software.
If the procurement process involves publishing an open request for proposals (RFP), and then accepting bids from interested parties, then presumably anyone can read the RFP, doesn't that mean that any interested member of the public can figure out how to accomplish that with open source software, and then put in an offer to license it to the government for whatever they want?
Is that true even for "off-the-shelf" software (e.g. application software, operating systems, network services), as opposed to custom software (e.g. information systems specific to the organization's information needs)?
When dealing with the species known as the Canadian bureaucrat, my experience as a linux and OSS advocate have been predictable, uniform and unfortunate. Any mention of OSS of any kind, or even the merest mentioning of the word linux, causes immediate ridicule, followed quickly by vilefication, contempt, scorn, then dismissal.
To say they tend not to be open to the idea of OSS would be an understatement of the grandest proportions.
... but that's just my experience ... ymmv.
In B.C., our fascism is green.
Then all we have to do is find a Brit who isn't a soccer hooligan
Hi!
All intents and purposes. Not intensive purposes.
I knew it would be easy! :D