Toronto Municipal Open Source Revolution, anyone ?

[David J Patrick]

Marcus Brubaker wrote:

>I highly suggest that if you're serious about this (and you seem to be)
>that you plan a face-to-face meeting on the topic with everyone who is
>interested in participating.  Moreover, don't just have an ad-hoc get
>together, make an agenda and have a list of tasks that people can work
>on.  A bit of research will be needed for something like this.
>
>Off the top of my head, the kind of initial information you might need:
>
>1) What kind of computing resources/services does the city use and
>require?  Specifically, what kinds of applications are being used, by
>whom and for what?
>
>2) Are there any contracts or existing licensing that would be
>affected?  Did the city just spend a few million on Oracle?  If so, will
>that contract permit them to switch to Oracle on Linux without
>significant expenditure?
>
>3) How does the cities situation compare to other, similar
>organizations?  Someone mentioned Berlin, but there are a lot of other,
>governments throughout the world that have been doing these kinds of
>moves.  How did they fare and how do they compare to Toronto's position
>and requirements?
>
>4) Who do we talk to?  Failing that, where do we go to find out who to
>talk to and who is going to do that?
>
>That's basically just gathering information.  Then you'll need to get a
>plan together.  For instance:
>
>1) Where does Linux make sense?  Why?  Precisely what do you intend to
>replace and with what.
>
>2) What kinds of returns can be expected?  Versus the initial transition
>costs?  What is the comparative savings over 2 years?  Over 5?  Anyone
>with business experience know how to do a formal returns analysis?
>
>Just throwing out ideas.  Good luck!
>
>  
>
You are SO right !
    I'm trying to incite a wikki ! In advance of such a meeting.
I feel that would be the best way to roll this snowball.
The LUG has some some of the finest IT brains on the planet, as well as 
socially active and forward thinking folks, but all this brillance has 
to have a workable container.
I would do it myself, but I don't have the resources or skill.
djp

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