MESSAGE
| DATE | 2003-06-19 |
| FROM | Michael Richardson
|
| SUBJECT | RE: [hangout] Enough already
|
Get him a job on the continent of Atlantis.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dave Williams [mailto:jdave23-at-express56.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2003 10:26 AM
To: hangout-at-nylxs.com
Cc: rms-at-gnu.org
Subject: [hangout] Enough already
Tony is at it again, speaking on behalf of his "center". How can we
make him go away?
>From http://newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=03/06/17/1655215:
EGOVOS endorses South Africa's Open Source strategy
- by Tony Stanco -
The Center of Open Source & Government [www.egovos.org ] endorses the
South African Proposed Strategy for Using Open Source Software in the
South African Government by providing rationally defensible policy
guidelines. The South African Strategy is a reasonable road map for a
viable Open Source Government Policy for the following reasons:
1. Official Statement of Recognition of the Legitimacy of Open Source
Since Open Source as a policy consideration is a relatively new
phenomenon, a proper Open Source Government Policy begins with the
explicit recognition of Open Source as a legitimate software development
methodology.
The South African Strategy explicitly states that Open Source software
is a legitimate alternative to proprietary software in government
systems.
2. Designation of Particular Government Agency to Lead Open Source
Program
A proper Open Source Government Policy provides authority and
accountability to a high level government official who is responsible
for coordination, communication and execution of the Program.
The South African Strategy designates the State IT Agency (SITA) to
provide leadership and support for government institutions wishing to
implement Open Source Software. The strategy makes provision for
briefing sessions to the public and to government agencies, publishing
information through appropriate media outlets, creating and maintaining
an Open Source government website, and making presentations at
conferences.
3. Level Playing Field in Government Procurement
A government IT policy should foster a commitment to competition
without, directly or indirectly, pre-determining winners, as a result
there should be no a priori procurement preferences. However, a neutral
government procurement policy first ensures that all de facto and de
jure preferences, prejudices and discriminations are removed. Once the
playing field is leveled, purchases should be made on technical merit,
giving both proprietary and Open Source software an equal opportunity to
be selected.
One prerequisite for a level playing field is the removal of existing
user lock-ins resulting from de facto proprietary standards in use in
the current IT environment. As such, governments should immediately
mandate that only products abiding by enforceable Open Standards and
Open Protocols be purchased.
Until all major IT products are produced in compliance with Open
Standards and Open Protocols, it is reasonably defensible for
governments to have policies that deviate to a limited degree from a
procurement policy that would look exclusively at technical merit. The
preferred mitigating policy is charging proprietary companies a 5-10%
non-compliance fee on all purchased products that are non complying,
with the proceeds used to fund Open Source education and software
development in the country. A less preferred policy, though still
reasonably defensible, is a pre-set set-aside of between 10-20% of the
IT procurement budget that will be used to procure Open Source products,
even though strict adherence to a policy of purchasing on technical
merit would suggest that proprietary products be purchased. The
rationale for the de jure disparate treatment between proprietary and
Open Source during this transitional period is the fact that a de facto
disparate treatment currently exists that benefits proprietary and needs
to be counter-balanced until Open Standards are implemented.
The South African Strategy requires that Open Standards are to be a
prerequisite for all software development. It also says that
discrimination and prejudice will be avoided in software procurement
procedures to give Open Source and proprietary equal opportunity to be
selected. However, the South African Strategy does not attempt to
implement an interim policy to counter-balance the current slanting of
the playing field towards proprietary until the policy goal of
compliance with Open Standards is functional in the market.
4. Appreciation of Social Value of Open Source Software
While government procurement policy should be neutral to ensure that
governments do not introduce market distortions into the world economy,
there should be an appreciation of the social benefits of fostering Open
Source software development in a proper Open Source Government Policy
plan.
These social benefits include wider access to government information by
citizens, transparency in the functioning of the software running
e-government services, ability to create an indigenous software
industry, and better education and training of local IT professionals.
These are substantial social benefits for a country that are unavailable
at all or to the same degree from the proprietary software industry.
It should be noted that some commentators maintain that the social
benefits for a country of Open Source software are so large that they
should always trump the no a priori preferences principle. The Center of
Open Source & Government cautions governments from placing the economic
principles and social principles in opposition. With Open Source
software the economic and social principles are not in competition and
both are attainable simultaneously. Placing the social benefits above
the requirement of a level playing field unnecessarily complicates
public policy and can easily introduce unwanted market distortions with
negative unintended consequences.
However, if it were proven that a level playing field were to result in
an enduring disadvantage to a country's social policies, it would be
necessary to re-visit the issue of a proper balance between the economic
and social policies. The Center of Open Source & Government currently
holds, until shown otherwise, that the economic and social policies
supplement and support each other, so artificially placing them in
opposition is needless.
The South African Strategy recognizes the educational and commercial
benefits of Open Source development and recommends that partnerships
between academic, industry and government institutions be implemented.
It also finds a clever balance between a neutral procurement policy and
the social benefits of Open Source suggesting that in circumstances
where the advantages and disadvantages of Open Source and proprietary
software are equally strong, opting for Open Source is preferable, which
is sensible.
5. Phased Implementation
Given the disruptions and uncertainties inherent in moving from a
proprietary framework to an Open Source one, phasing in an Open Source
policy program is prudent to allow for piloting, education & training,
capacity building, experimentation and experience learning.
The South African Strategy begins with a Neutral Approach and progresses
through an Enabling Phase to an Aggressive Approach.
Conclusion
For the reasons given, The Center of Open Source & Government endorses
the South African Policy Strategy.
____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
____________________________
NYLXS: New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
NYLXS is a trademark of NYLXS, Inc
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