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

[Craig Ringer]

> Do you think the government has a duty to operate in as transparent,
> auditable manner as possible? Do you think the Freedom of Information
> Act is a good thing?

badly [OT], but: What freedom of information? I know we have a law that 
claims to provide that, but when the response can be a document with 
everything but the date and title redacted out by use of an 
"interesting" interpretation of "national security," is it really good 
enough? ( I do know that the FOI act does it's job well most of the time ).

> Do you want to reduce Australia's balance of trade deficit? 
> (Mandating Open Source turns off the flow of taxpayer money
> overseas, and creates jobs for local programmers customising that
> open source software.)

Obviously, yes.

> If there are equivalent tools of equal merit available open source,
> would you mandate that the government use them?

[ Define "open source" here in the http://opensource.org/ usage ]:

No - but I'd expect them to, because it'd be the right choice. I think 
legislation is the wrong way to go about it, but that doesn't mean I 
wouldn't prefer to see governments using local software and support 
where it's practical. I'd just like to avoid debacles where they roll 
out software that just isn't up to it or doesn't really fit their needs, 
then spend millions incompetently trying to manage it afterwards.

IMHO hese issues should be handled as part of the normal software 
policies. Legislation is unflexible, is hard to adjust, and makes 
government software policy succeptible to software industry lobbying.

Unfortunately, some of the legislation surfacing around the world seems 
to push the use of open source wherever possible, not wherever most 
suitable. This strikes me as unwise. Also, as James pointed out, all you 
really need to require for government or other areas with strict trust 
needs is that you have access to the source code so that you can audit it.

Craig Ringer


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