[plug] [link] Open Source win in Mass. US

[Bret Busby]

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003, Ben Jensz wrote:

> 
> http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,7612098%5E15319%5E%5Enbv%5E,00.html
> 
>     THE US state of Massachusetts has instructed its chief technology
>     officer to adopt a policy of "open standards, open source" for all
>     future spending on information technology.
> 
> Sounds like a win for open source, a bit too close to home for 
> Microsoft's liking I presume...
> 
> 
> / Ben
> 
> 
> 

There is a problem that I see with such policies. I believe that such a 
policy, makes a site a "closed shop", which I think is as bad as being 
exclusively MS, or any other company.

Whilst I support open source, I believe that enforced closed shops of 
open source sites, will do more harm than good, to the open source 
movement. The "free" part, I understood, was supposed to be about 
freedom of choice. Closed shops do not have that luxury.

I believe that it would be far better, to have a simple policy, to 
investigate all reasonable options, including open source, and select 
the most appropriate solution for the circumstances, without bias.

-- 
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
 you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
  Chapter 28 of 
  "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
  A Trilogy In Four Parts",
  written by Douglas Adams, 
  published by Pan Books, 1992 
....................................................

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