He was fascinated. He's a bit of a geek himself, and when I started going off on Open Source vs. Proprietary, he was listening hard. Wave enough dinero in front of a congresscritter and they will react. I could see "state comptroller" dancing about in his head.
He said he'd get back to me in a couple of weeks (It's been 2 1/2 weeks since our interview) and I'm fixing to contact him and ask "wazzup"?
Honestly? He said (and who knows what that means when it comes to congressmen) that he liked the idea, and that he would ask the (texas) speaker of the house to propose a study on the issue. He also said that he'd have someone else study law on the matter (I asked him how much copyright law was there? He said "Plenty!" How much law was there that protected the consumer? "None!" In this case the consumer was the taxpayer!)
Truth be told, I was planning on the end of this coming week as the date upon which I send him e-mail and ask "wazzup?"
Like I said earlier, I'm a simple home user. I have never worked IT, and I likely never will. If there are any/. IT professionals that are willing to support my arguments about open source vs. proprietary solutions that are also IT professionals, I'd appreciate it if they'd contact me. I'd rather have the congressman talk to someone that's knowledgable on the subject.
/. is a game and you're winning?
Sounds like you need a life.
Look, pal, here's the real deal. If you step out your front door, you'll notice that above you is blue sky. If you look off into the distance, you'll see a horizon. There's green stuff (plants) and some of the green stuff actually smells good!
While computers & open source vs. proprietary software is fascinating stuff, there's far more to life than this.
Get a life.
Be careful, mi amigo.
Other countries might not have the GNP of the US, but that doesn't mean that they don't have networks.
While the US might be a giant amongst nations, it isn't the only nation. If the majority of nations adopt open-source solutions over proprietary solutions, the US might find itself stuckout, having supported a standard that's only used by the US (Metric vs. pounds, feet, etc., celcius vs. farenheit). Think about this - why would another nation weld itself to a software solution that not only sends (needed) money overseas, but also introduces the possibility of a "backdoor" on every desktop & server in gov't service?
On Apr 17th, I walked into the office of my state representative (TX State Legislature) and gave him a proposal to make use of OSS mandatory where the use of OSS is practical.
I gave him a 5 page proposal and two pages of links (and I'm fixin' to send him the link to Sr. Villanueva's letter), spent about 1/2 hour talking to him, and I got online with him to show him specific examples of OSS applications that could be used to replace proprietary solutions in gov't offices. I even told him that every time I see a state computer running proprietary software, I get a mental image of politicians dancing around waving burning $100 bills over their heads.
Hey - I'm no IT professional. I'm simply a home user that got sick of MS BS (blue screens, EULA abuse, business practices, etc). Having used Linux and other OSS for the last two years, I've found that it's as easy to use as proprietary software, and you can't beat the price.
I saw one troll that said (and I'm paraphrasing) "Lookout! Stupid! You're up against more money than you'll ever know, and politicians are all about money." Maybe I'm naive, but I figure that if enough politicians start hearing about the tremendous savings that can be realized by going with open source solutions vs. proprietary solutions, and they hear about it from enough people, things will change. Remember the civil rights movement? Enough people stood up and said "ENOUGH". That's really all it takes.
I would think that anyone that frequents/. would feel it imperative to contact a legislator or executive and suggest the use of OSS over proprietary solutions (where practical). Step up to the plate and swing, my friends.
Slashdot Mirror
He was fascinated. He's a bit of a geek himself, and when I started going off on Open Source vs. Proprietary, he was listening hard. Wave enough dinero in front of a congresscritter and they will react. I could see "state comptroller" dancing about in his head. He said he'd get back to me in a couple of weeks (It's been 2 1/2 weeks since our interview) and I'm fixing to contact him and ask "wazzup"? Honestly? He said (and who knows what that means when it comes to congressmen) that he liked the idea, and that he would ask the (texas) speaker of the house to propose a study on the issue. He also said that he'd have someone else study law on the matter (I asked him how much copyright law was there? He said "Plenty!" How much law was there that protected the consumer? "None!" In this case the consumer was the taxpayer!) Truth be told, I was planning on the end of this coming week as the date upon which I send him e-mail and ask "wazzup?" Like I said earlier, I'm a simple home user. I have never worked IT, and I likely never will. If there are any /. IT professionals that are willing to support my arguments about open source vs. proprietary solutions that are also IT professionals, I'd appreciate it if they'd contact me. I'd rather have the congressman talk to someone that's knowledgable on the subject.
/. is a game and you're winning? Sounds like you need a life. Look, pal, here's the real deal. If you step out your front door, you'll notice that above you is blue sky. If you look off into the distance, you'll see a horizon. There's green stuff (plants) and some of the green stuff actually smells good! While computers & open source vs. proprietary software is fascinating stuff, there's far more to life than this. Get a life.
Be careful, mi amigo. Other countries might not have the GNP of the US, but that doesn't mean that they don't have networks. While the US might be a giant amongst nations, it isn't the only nation. If the majority of nations adopt open-source solutions over proprietary solutions, the US might find itself stuckout, having supported a standard that's only used by the US (Metric vs. pounds, feet, etc., celcius vs. farenheit). Think about this - why would another nation weld itself to a software solution that not only sends (needed) money overseas, but also introduces the possibility of a "backdoor" on every desktop & server in gov't service?
On Apr 17th, I walked into the office of my state representative (TX State Legislature) and gave him a proposal to make use of OSS mandatory where the use of OSS is practical. I gave him a 5 page proposal and two pages of links (and I'm fixin' to send him the link to Sr. Villanueva's letter), spent about 1/2 hour talking to him, and I got online with him to show him specific examples of OSS applications that could be used to replace proprietary solutions in gov't offices. I even told him that every time I see a state computer running proprietary software, I get a mental image of politicians dancing around waving burning $100 bills over their heads. Hey - I'm no IT professional. I'm simply a home user that got sick of MS BS (blue screens, EULA abuse, business practices, etc). Having used Linux and other OSS for the last two years, I've found that it's as easy to use as proprietary software, and you can't beat the price. I saw one troll that said (and I'm paraphrasing) "Lookout! Stupid! You're up against more money than you'll ever know, and politicians are all about money." Maybe I'm naive, but I figure that if enough politicians start hearing about the tremendous savings that can be realized by going with open source solutions vs. proprietary solutions, and they hear about it from enough people, things will change. Remember the civil rights movement? Enough people stood up and said "ENOUGH". That's really all it takes. I would think that anyone that frequents /. would feel it imperative to contact a legislator or executive and suggest the use of OSS over proprietary solutions (where practical). Step up to the plate and swing, my friends.