[plug] Another Government goes Open Source

[Craig Ringer]

heh... wrt to linux in Aust gov't, I had an interesting experience today.

I went in to get a passport approved, and while the cashier and I waited 
(and waited... and waited...) for an EFTPOS transaction to complete we 
had a bitch session about the use of MS Windows in PoS and other similar 
tasks. I pointed out that dodgy custom apps play a big part in systems 
that crash regularly (this one qualified, ie multiple times daily) but 
windows was probably not a suitable option, and that there were 
alternatives.

I got no response of "eek, that'd be _different_" or anything - just 
enthusiasim for the idea of something that'd work more reliably. They 
commented that they'd been enduring it for quite a while already.

Sadly I had to say that at present the Gov't is doing _very_ little with 
linux or other non-MS systems, but as some Aust companies are beginning 
to adopt them the wait may not be _too_ long.

The point here is that the guy was sufficiently frustrated with the 
existing systems to be willing to go for anything better, and was open 
to having to learn a little or deal with a different interface to do so.

Of course the decision makers won't actually hear about that 
frustration, or be aware that the system is running at <100%.

*sigh*.

Craig