Question for TLUGgers: How can Canada take a leading role in FOSS?

[Walter Dnes]

On Sun, Apr 02, 2006 at 02:24:01PM -0400, Colin McGregor wrote

> I mean it is our job to keep things working at the lowest possible
> cost, boasting about how you saved $ for the organization is not
> part of the job description.

  The saving-money argument is probably the way to go.  Let's be
realistic, the Canadian political future holds Conservative and Liberal
governments, not Green Party governments.  Selling Open Source as a
social movement won't help.  Selling it as a cost-cutting measure will
perk up ears at both major parties.

  Where I work (Environment Canada), so far it's been a matter of linux
replacing old-fashioned unix.  Let's just say that a beefed up PC with 4
gigs of RAM, plus RAID, plus linux comes in way below the cost of an
RS6000 running AIX, or an HP server running HPUX.  And Exceed has lost
at least a few seats to Cygwin.  This hasn't been a concious Open Source
advocacy; it's been a case of people throughout the organization trying
to get their jobs done within the constraints of post-1993 budget cuts.

  Voters, politicians, and civil servants may not care for a "social
movement".  Fiscal responsibility and "more bang for the buck", via
"Free Software" is something they can comprehend.  That's the selling
tactic we should use.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes-SLHPyeZ9y/tg9hUCZPvPmw at public.gmane.org> In linux /sbin/init is Job #1
My musings on technology and security at http://tech_sec.blog.ca
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