sad commentary on THEIR ability

[Andrew Hammond]

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phil wrote:
> On May 12, 2005, at 4:16 PM, Christopher Browne wrote:
> 
>> But tell them that LAMP + OpenOffice.org will "solve all their
>> problems," and the time spent will be perceived as a "childish and
>> trivial" waste of time money...
> 
> But since that's not what was done, the insult still seems gratuitous.

Sorry, what insult? I think Chris is giving a pretty fair example of the
kind of silly advocacy that is all to often found when linux hobbists
assume that what works for them in their garage applies equally well to
very different situations.

I initially asked a question, and I guess it was a little to clever for
it's own good. I appologize, but I find wordplay and symmetry hard to
resist. The question was

"Could it be that the reason you have recieve paternalistic and
complacent responses from bureaucrats is that the issues you raised
/appeared/ childish and trivial to them?" (emphasis added)

I was trying to point out that the importance of issues people in the
OSS world are deeply familiar with is not generally not recognized by
people who are not involved with OSS.

Pointing out the existance of some free software (what an unfortunate
name) and then getting annoyed because a politician doesn't realize all
the other issues involved is rather silly. The politician will see that
it's "Free" software and assume that you're talking about purchase
price. As we all know, the purchase price of (some of) the software is a
pretty small factor in TCO of a system as complicated and mission
critical as a a medical information system.

So, I'll re-iterate what I said before. "Maybe you'd have more success
if you tried to understand the issues that matter to them and then see
where solutions which would address your issues coincide with solutions
which would address theirs?"

A large part of influencing their decision making process involves
getting a very clear idea of what they're trying to accomplish, and
helping them understand the issues. In other words, communication is key.

- --
Andrew Hammond    416-673-4138    ahammond-swQf4SbcV9C7WVzo/KQ3Mw at public.gmane.org
Database Administrator, Afilias Canada Corp.
CB83 2838 4B67 D40F D086 3568 81FC E7E5 27AF 4A9A
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