[plug] Closure of OSWA

[Gavin Chester]

On Mon, 2006-10-23 at 10:44 +0800, Stuart Midgley wrote:

-snip-

> I'm concerned that people have jumped onto the (general) opensource  
> bandwagon without clearly articulating what functionality of the  
> centre or use of its resources they are concerned about.

Very presumptuous of me to articulate a reply given I have no standing
in the WA FOSS community, so I will make it clear that my opinions are
my own, coming from within my little computing bubble :-)

Living outside the metro area I was/am not able to avail myself of the
services previously offered by OpenSourceWA (OSWA), nor in fact the
monthly meetings of PLUG.  On those grounds I have to comment that the
physical location and resources of OSWA are immaterial to me, unless
they organised and hosted 'special' events, such as conferences and the
like that warranted putting aside time to attend.

I see the prime purpose of an agency like OSWA as being an advocate for
(F)OSS, with their primary target being government followed distantly by
the general public.  Their purpose would be to clear away the FUD
surrounding FOSS by allowing government and ordinary people to have
easily-accessible exposure to its capabilities.  Government software
usage represents too much money spent with one company (and its agents)
when it would be spent better on the general community.  

I want to be clear that I'm not saying that all software should be 'free
as in beer', especially when developed and supported for specialised
governmental purposes.  I imagine that the market/user base would be too
small to warrant serious attention by software developers to niches like
that alone.  Basically, I am saying that the free market should dictate
the choice of software adopted by government once full cost-benefit is
done and the social and financial impacts of such choices fully
considered.  

I can see a day when there would be burgeoning IT divisions within every
government department populated by a new crop of inspired and creative
IT professionals not relegated to clicking dialogues in Windows(R). They
would have the freedom to try new ideas and cross-fertilise their ideas
within and without other government agencies to the benefit of all -
just like the OSS community operates today.

"I have a dream ..."       

My $0.02 :-)

Gavin