FOSS and the election

[Tony Abou-Assaleh]

> >DRDC developed a report that became the GoC policy on FOSS. This particular policy was based on facts and detailed evaluation and analysis. Hence, the current GoC policy on FOSS is based on fact.
> >
> >
> Only to a point. This is from Treasury Board, which means that
> minimizing cost is an absolute key factor. Other factors, such as job
> creation or international competitiveness or universal access, are
> introduced by politicians not bureaucrats and may not have been part of
> this evaluation. The staff that make such reports are given specific
> frames of reference and build upon those. There are facts and research
> in use, to be sure, but they're layered on top of core premises that may
> be as much based on religion as anything else.

A clarification is due. The above assumption is not the whole truth.
First, of all, the report was produced by Chief Information Officer
Branch, which basically dictates all IT related stuff that are GoC wide.

Second of all, the evaluation was done by DRDC scientists (2, to be more
exact). They developed their own evaluation criteria, and they published
them in their report. The study took 2 or 3 years. I'll reproduce the
criteria here (refer to the report for a description of these items):

* Functionality
* Cost
* Required Support and Maintenance
* Reliability
* Quality
* Ease of Migration for Users
* Performance and Scalability
* Flexibility and Scalability
* User friendliness
* Developer Usability
* Legal and License Issues
* Trustworthiness

Granted, a lot of emphasis was given to cost and licencing; however, other
criteria were also considered.

I understand that there is a difference between the practical value of OSS
vs. the philosophy behind FOSS. It is more clear to me now that the GoC
policy on OSS is purely a practical consideration, while the Green Party
policy is more of a philosophical one.

Cheers,

TAA

-----------------------------------------------------
Tony Abou-Assaleh
Lecturer, Computer Science Department
Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada, L2S 3A1
Office: MC J215
Tel:    +1(905)688-5550 ext. 5243
Fax:    +1(905)688-3255
Email:  taa-HInyCGIudOg at public.gmane.org
WWW:    http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/~taa/
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