I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the HUGE Linux / Open
Source article in today's Ottawa Citizen. The whole cover and
a couple of pages of the Hi-Tech section are dedicated to this
article.
Online version is here:
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/specials/business/story.html?id={C50BA30E-BE66-48CB-B32C-609F488F49BC}
Cheers,
Vic
Partial sample for those who may not be able to get it on the
web / print:
A piece of the action Governments the world over spend
billions on Microsoft products and other proprietary software.
Open source advocates contend their wares are cheaper and
better. On one side of the tug of war is Bill Gates and other
entrepreneurial heavyweights who say their software is secure
and well-supported On the other side are grassroots techies
who contend that open source software (such as Linux) is more
adaptable, innovative and convenient
Kate Heartfield The Ottawa Citizen
Thursday, October 10, 2002 Bruno Schlumberger, The Ottawa
Citizen
From left, Joseph Potvin, Russell McOrmond, Claude Gagne,
Richard
Lessard and Glen Newton are members of GOSLING -- Getting Open
Source Logic Into Governments. As an informal research
network, the group is acknowledged and encouraged by the
Treasury Board Secretariat.
(Bill Gates)
(A penguin)
A few years ago Joseph Potvin, an IT analyst at Public Works
and Government Services Canada, helped develop the federal
government's first custom open source software. Late last
month, he spoke to bureaucrats from the Treasury Board
Secretariat, explaining the benefits of open source.
It's 5:30 on a warm, autumn Friday afternoon. Three men sit
with pints of Keith's in the Byward Market courtyard patio
behind the Blackthorn Café. They are three of the most
unassuming guys you'll ever see, in T-shirts, ball caps and
jeans. You might never guess that they comprise the Ottawa
vanguard of a global, tech-centred tug of war, with the
considerable coffers involved in government software spending
up for grabs.
.......
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Vic Gedris vic-at-gedris.org http://vic.dyndns.org/
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