MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-02-12 |
| FROM | From: "Stanley A. Klein"
|
| SUBJECT | Re: [fairuse] Re: [hangout] Re: eGovOS conference in D.C.
|
I think advocacy is in the eye of the beholder.
Tony's express goal (per the web page) is to raise awareness. I think he
is also trying to raise and debate policy issues, such as security.
Perhaps some of this can be explained by a quote from a (not accepted)
abstract that I submitted to the conference:
"Because of the nature of free/open-source business models, inclusion of
free-open source software among business case alternatives also depends on
its being pro-actively placed in the acquisition process similar to a
build-versus-buy consideration, unless the acquisition has a substantial
component of outside support services."
Admittedly, I wasn't thinking about hardware with included software when I
wrote that.
For the most part, "no salesman will call" about free/open source. For the
most part, nobody gets a commission for selling copies of free/open-source
software, like people get commissions for selling copies of proprietary
software.
So the principal way to get free/open-source into government is to make
those staffing the acauisition process aware of its existence and benefits
so they are persuaded to do what they need to do to put it on the table.
There is another interesting kind of outcome from the conference. At the
last conference I learned that the Veterans Administration had produced a
free/open-source hospital information system. It is being used around the
world, but the VA can't provide support in the US. A non-government group
has been formed to do so. (BTW, there seem to be numerous speakers on that
topic at the upcoming conference.)
So does awareness = advocacy? Does getting people together so they can
learn from each other = advocacy? It's certainly arguable, but it isn't
what they say they are trying to do.
Stan Klein
At 04:33 AM 2/12/2003 -0500, Ruben Safir wrote:
>There is no way to view the event other than an advocacy event, and OS/FS
>marketing event.
>
>Clearly IBM and NS view it that way.
>
>Tony is not that stupid.
>
>Ruben
>
>
>On Tue, Feb 11, 2003 at 08:58:11PM -0500, Dave Williams wrote:
>>
>> Fair enough. I guess that the heart of the issue is the fact that Mr.
>> Stanco isn't actually running an advocacy event, just something that
>> looks a lot like one. Of course there will be plenty of people who get
>> a lot of value out of it, regardless.
>>
>> I sympathize with the frustration people feel when they commit to a
>> movement that is so amenable to misinterpretation and revision. Not to
>> mention so difficult to adequately fund or represent! Maybe I should
>> look at the big picture and be thankful that it is making any inroads at
>> all.
>>
>> Still, I think there is a lot of hubris involved when people start
>> toying around with large predatory monopolies. If you spend a lot of
>> time in the rarefied air of DC you could get an inflated opinion of your
>> political skills, and if people don't realize that MS has a culture of
>> competition and victory-at-all-costs by this point they are asking for
>> trouble. The fallout of such self-indulgent miscalculations won't be
>> pretty.
>>
>> On Tue, 2003-02-11 at 20:04, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
>> > I agree that this vigilance is necessary and must happen. However, it is
>> > my personal belief that showing up at an event, and being a respectful
>> > participant, to speak about how our dedication to those principles and
how
>> > Matusow and others work against them is precisely the way to be vigilant.
>> >
>> > Stanco doesn't run advocacy events anymore. That's upsetting and
>> > disheartening. But it's reality. Given that reality, we should use
these
>> > "both sides allowed" events he now does run to get our vigilance
across to
>> > as many people as we can.
>> >
>> > If someone gives you a pulpit to spread your beliefs, use it!
>> >
>> > -- bkuhn (speaking for himself, not his employer)
____________________________
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