The government can also learn from the Spanish experience in Andalucia, Re: Guadalinex
http://www.guadalinex.org http://www.ubuntulinux.org/guadalinex Hopefully, I get to talk to Javier Carranza about his experience in Guadalinex and open source in government at UDU so I could share their strategies one time. Member countries of the European Union are so advanced in the adoption of FOSS in all sectors of society. The government, thru ASTI has made the right step in Bayanihan but should increase further research on this. Jerome On 4/16/05, Manny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > How the Government Can Save Millions of Pesos > by Roberto Verzola; > Issue Date: April 5, 2005 > http://www.itnetcentral.com/computerworld/article.asp?id=14413&leveli=0&info=Computerworld > > THE government is in such dire financial straits that every peso saved > matters. There is one area where millions of pesos of government savings > can still be made: software procurement. > > Free/open software > > Many government policy-makers must be aware by now that alternatives to > commercial software exist. Users can legally copy such software freely, > use them on as many machines as necessary, and share them with others. > There are other benefits, such as the freedom to modify these software and > customize them, because they usually come with the source code. These > alternatives are variously known as "free software" or "open software," > the most well-known being Linux/GNU/X-Windows (a replacement for Microsoft > Windows), OpenOffice (an office suite that can open and save MS-Office > files), and Firefox (an Internet Explorer look-alike). Thousands of > free/open software applications exist, and more are being developed. > > The catch is that most employees and perhaps even MIS managers have become > so used to the commercial brands that, to them, it is better to spend a > few thousand pesos of public money and stick with a familiar company than > to learn new software, even if it is free. In reality, it often takes as > much effort to learn a new version of Microsoft Windows as it does to > learn X-Windows (a popular free/open graphical user interface). As > University of the .Philippines president Dodong Nemenzo said when he > decided to shift the whole UP system to free/open software, the shift from > DOS to Windows and from WordStar to WordPerfect and then to MS-Word was, > in fact, much more difficult for him than the shift he made from MS-Office > to OpenOffice. > > Technology-neutral specifications? > ] > Some government officials justify their refusal to specify free/open > software with the excuse that the government should be > "technology-neutral" when specifying software. By this, they mean they > should not specify Linux, OpenOffice or free/open software in government > software purchases. > > In fact, the opposite is often true: government specifications have on > many occasions shown a bias not only for a particular software technology > but a particular company as well. It is easy to define software > requirements so that no other software except a particular brand will > qualify. In the past, government specifications could only be interpreted > to mean that they wanted a particular product. Or these specs required > hardware that came pre-installed with a particular company's software > products. If that hardware was not compatible with Linux/GNU, then that > effectively foreclosed the free/open software option for the government in > the future > > The government should not be "cost-neutral." Government rules clearly > specify preference for the lowest bid. If a software "technology" like > free/open software offers lower cost than another, how can the government > insist on being "technology-neutral"? > > However, few bidders will carry free/open software, precisely because > little money can be made selling them. Thus, government biddings, in > effect, ensure that only commercial software are considered among the > government's software options > > The corrupt prefer the commercial > > Of course, in offices where the decision-maker is corrupt, it is easy to > see why he would prefer commercial software. The more expensive the > software, the higher the commission. Free software means no commission. > > Still, we know that the government can save millions of pesos, if it > opened itself to the possibility of using free/open software, so we must > try to find a way. > > How can the government encourage a shift to free/open software, without > going to the other extreme of eliminating commercial software as an option > for government projects? > > Let me offer a concrete suggestion: let free/open software be the default > option in all government hardware purchases. That is, all computers > purchased by the government should come with free/open operating systems > (like Linux/GNU), office suites (like OpenOffice), and other applications > pre-installed by the hardware vendor. Likewise, specifications for > peripherals should specify compatibility with at least one free/open > operating system. > > Then, the burden of proof shifts from the free/open software option, to > the commercial options. If an application requires the purchase of > commercial software, let that be fully justified before it is allowed. > Then and only then can a commercial product like Windows or MS-Office be > purchased and installed on the machine. > > By requiring in computers the pre-installation of free/open software and > in peripherals compatibility with free/open software, the government > retains the option to shift to free/open software, in case a machine needs > to be used later for a different application. > > The issue here is: what should be the government's "default" mode? > Free/open software, or commercial software. It is obvious, given the > desperate financial situation of the government today, that it should > adopt as its default mode the less costly mode, using free/open software > as much as possible and spending money for commercial software only when > really necessary. > > It is criminal, in fact, for government officials to spend millions of > pesos of public funds for software procurement, when a free or low-cost > alternative exists. > > ------- > (Roberto Obet Verzola, a graduate of the Philippine Science High School > and the UP College of Engineering, is a pioneer in the local desktop > computer industry, particularly among non-profits, foundations, and non- > government organizations. He designed and built what is often considered > to be the "first Filipino microcomputer" in 1982, and set up the first > online systems at the Senate and House of Representatives in 1990. The > industry has awarded him the title "Father of Philippine e-Mail" for > setting up Email Center in 1992. He authored the book Towards a Political > Economy of Information, published in March 2004, which looks at the "dark > side" of computers and the Internet. His major interest is appropriate > technologies for the agriculture, industry and information sectors. > Reactions to this column can be e-mailed to [EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > --[Manny [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Member: Philippine League for Democratic Telecommunications > Alternative Information and Opinion: www.phnix.net > PGP Key ID 3E7F7C68 from keyserver pgp.mit.edu > --[Open Minds Philippines]--------------------[openminds.linux.org.ph]-- -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
