Canadian Federal Government Mulling Open Source? 117
An anonymous reader points out a CBC report discussing a request from the Canadian government for information about open source software and free proprietary software. Evan Leibovitch, an advocate for open source, says the government's interest was spurred by a desire to reduce expenditures during the recession.
"...Leibovitch said he hopes the request will lead to government policies that give 'a level playing field' to vendors of open-source software services, who provide technical and administrative support to companies that use open-source programs. He alleges these service providers currently face barriers when competing with proprietary software vendors in the government procurement process. ... When the government purchases software, it often assumes that it will have to pay for a licence and asks software vendors to bid for the contract, McOrmond said. Vendors of open source software services don't respond to that initial call for tender because they have no licences to sell. But then, the government might ask for a separate round of bids for providing support services for the software, which open-source vendors could provide."
Very good idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Most likely, it'll just end up with them getting better offers from Microsoft and other companies - but a policy of promoting open source as a preferred quality in software is still at least a good philosophy to promote.
There's likely still too much of a practical dependence on folks who will only be comfortable with the idea of using Windows to just do any major switch - but the change in policy to demand a more even playing field will likely reap great rewards, as it has with many other nations making similar decisions.
Ryan Fenton
Do not bite, it's a gimmick! (Score:3, Insightful)
I just do not understand why a government "just mulling Open Source" as the headline says, is news worthy. It's just a gimmick. For this to even have a chance, Open Source Software would be alive and well in Canadian schools but this isn't the case.
Rem,ember this is one country without a domestic car concern...the only such country in the entire so called G8! Canada? Give me a break!
Re:Very good idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Most likely, it'll just end up with them getting better offers from Microsoft and other companies
Which, incidentally, is the real news here. Did you notice the shift? A couple of years ago they'd just shrug it off, now a government migrating to Linux is credible enough to seriously consider.
Stage 1 complete.
Re:CANLinux (Score:5, Insightful)
I am only responding to your last statement. As a Canadian who has visited many areas of both the US and Europe, I can tell you that Americans are the only people who DON'T respect Canadians. You are AC, so I don't know what nationality you are, but if you are American, believe me, you guys are some of the LEAST respected people in the world.
Yes, I have some Karma to burn!
Re:Do not bite, it's a gimmick! (Score:4, Insightful)
Rem,ember this is one country without a domestic car concern...the only such country in the entire so called G8! Canada? Give me a break!
I don't get it. What does Canada not having a 'domestic car concern' have to do with their adoption of Open Source?
Could you put this in a car analogy for me?
Man, are you stupid or what? (Score:3, Insightful)
In the one game, that you would absolutely and totally win every time, you don't play, because of such a silly problem?
You have licenses to sell. Licenses for $0.00! Is that so hard? And if they are not accepting that, then give them some fantasy value, that is much lower that everyone else, but still above their bullshit limit. After all, it's not illegal to sell open source. No matter how you turn it... There is a way to always win this thing, but you do take it? Come on!
Some people just have to be hit with a cluestick... many times... ;)
Re:Give it time... (Score:3, Insightful)
of course we've done our part.
We've told them to "RTFM"....
We've told them "you don't really need that program anyway, use this crappy open source version instead"....
We've told them "Well if it doesn't work just go into the CLI and type in blah blah blah and then recompile and use this other weird ass workaround"......
We've told them "well next time make sure your device works with linux before you buy that amazingly popular peripheral"......
We've told them "Well this open source program does MOST of the same things as that proprietary one does, it'll interface with your mp3 player for the most part, all you'll lose is this one thing..".......
and on, and on, and on.
as was so eloquently pointed out a week or so ago, most open source programs are 90% complete, because thats the easy part of writing it. the actual writing of the app and making it do the common things. Then there's the last 10% which is making it easy to use, designing a good UI, and writing the documentation.....
which is where most FOSS does a dramatic and very steep dive into the ground.
Businesses don't want "community support".
They want to have someone on staff who can fix it, and if not, they want someone to call.
Which is why Red Hat and the like ARE IN BUSINESS TODAY.
If you don't have that, don't expect a government to come running to your FOSS program, regardless of what it is.
Re:CANLinux (Score:2, Insightful)
Unless you're talking to Europeans who are knowledgeable about our enormous carbon emissions
Re:CANLinux (Score:4, Insightful)
Let me start by observing that anyone who generalizes based upon nationality is falling into a trap. People are people; shaped by their environment, sure, but incredibly diverse in nature. I've met my share of people from all over the world. Some were asshats, some were kind and generous almost to a fault. Personally, I never noticed that any particular nation had a monopoly on one extreme or the other.
As to American attitudes towards Canadians? I can't speak to your personal experience. I can say that I grew up in northern Minnesota just 100 miles from the border. We used to have Canadians down for skiing trips all the time. When they came down, they were ready to party hard. The running joke was that only a Canuck could out drink a jackpine savage (our local version of a backwoods redneck, a community which I am still proud to consider myself a member). :)
Unfortunately, some Canadians gave the rest of you a bad name by being belligerent drunks. Should I have assumed that all Canadians were asshats because of that? Or would you rather that I just regard those individuals as jerks and not representative of Canadians as a whole?
To quote the punchline to a very old joke, "Can't we all just get along?!?" :)
Tell you what. In the words of Arlo Guthrie, let's start a movement. Instead of protesting war and stuff, we'll just aim at learning to respect and trust each other. I won't judge all Canadians by a small handful of drunks if you'll accept that not all Americans are rude jerks. Then all we have to do is find a Brit who isn't a soccer hooligan (should be pretty easy, actually) and we've got ourselves an honest to God English speaking love fest going. Add in a Quebecois or two, a Frenchman, a Spaniard, and a Mexican and we'll have the start of a North Atlantic love-in! Then we add a Brazilian and a Namibian and we've got the South Atlantic covered! W00t! Can you see how it could grow? :)
Hey, I can dream, can't I? :D
This could be funny to watch... (Score:2, Insightful)
When dealing with the species known as the Canadian bureaucrat, my experience as a linux and OSS advocate have been predictable, uniform and unfortunate. Any mention of OSS of any kind, or even the merest mentioning of the word linux, causes immediate ridicule, followed quickly by vilefication, contempt, scorn, then dismissal.
To say they tend not to be open to the idea of OSS would be an understatement of the grandest proportions.
... but that's just my experience ... ymmv.