[plug] [Fwd: Everyone MUST drive a Ford with a 6 Cylinder Petrol Engine]

Sat Dec 22 10:08:12 WST 2007

I never heard from that Senator wanker, when I too was frustrated how other
countries see open source software as the education revolution. But once
again $5billion dollars is wasted, until these morons get the chance to fly
out on the fact finding tax payer mission and see how well they can
implement it back home. Firstly they must screw the taxpayer again and
insult everyone's intelligence who complained, protested and campaigned  in
the first place.

We see other countries insisting on open source software as the revolution
shaping the future.
They have taken some of the savings and invested it back into the open
source projects.

They have also taken the initiative to support the manufacturers and the
service people.

It is ironic that some leaders of open source software are Australians and
they have cult status
overseas, but at home they are like wild dogs roaming the Australian bush.

I guess the average Aussie is banking on the resources of the ground to
sustain them forever.
We know that never lasts but I guess we have one of the most selfish
generations who think that the generations behind them will stick around
when the shit hits the fan and pay for their engineered economic
stranglehold.

I do not pay for 95% of software and I will not pay for my 100% enslavement.

Summing up anything that has the word "open" reminds me of freedom.

Season's Greetings and best wishes in the new year to everyone.

Cheers

Bruno Cristovao

OzBevNet.com - Australian and New Zealand non-alcoholic drinks directory.

On Dec 22, 2007 8:37 AM, James Albert Duffield <jim at kultcher.com> wrote:

> My recent missive to Senator Stephen Conroy and other politicians
> involved in IT...
>
>
> 0415-710538
>
>                                              James Albert
>
>                                              Capt (RAE) Retired
>
>                                              BEECHBORO
>
>                                              WA  6063
>
>
>                                              22 Dec 2007
>
>
> As emailed..
>
>
> Dear Minister and Political Gentlepersons,
>
>       Everyone MUST drive a Ford with a 6 Cylinder Petrol Engine
>
>
> I note this in the Australian:
>
>
> > Work begins on digital classrooms
> > Fran Foo | December 20, 2007
> >
> >
> > STATE and territory governments have scrambled to boost the Rudd Labor
> > Government's plan to provide senior school students with computers.
> >
> > COAG - Work begins on digital classrooms
> >
> > Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (second from left) with state and territory
> > leaders at the Council of Australian Governments meeting. Picture:
> > David Crosling
> >
> >
> > All states and territories have agreed to conduct an audit of
> > computing infrastructure at schools immediately.
> >
> > The audit is expected to be completed mid-February in time to meet the
> > federal Government's plan to start allocating funds to schools by
> > March next year.
> >
> > Representatives of each government agreed to the plan at the Council
> > of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in Melbourne today.
> >
> > The $1 billion National Secondary School Computer Fund is set to
> > benefit around one million secondary students nationwide each year
> > with schools identified has having the most urgent needs given
> > priority.
> >
> > "World-class ICT in schools will make a real and sustainable change in
> > the way teaching and learning are delivered in classrooms across
> > Australia," Deputy Prime Minister and federal Education Minister Julia
> > Gillard recently said.
> >
> > "The Rudd Government will work with the school systems in every state
> > and territory to identify schools that have the highest priority in
> > terms of need, and assist them in making applications to the fund.
> > Over four years, all secondary schools will have access to the fund,"
> > she said.
> >
> > The secondary school fund complements computing tax rebates that will
> > kick-in from July 1, 2008.
> >
> > The federal Government has introduced means-tested rebates for
> > parents, of up to $375 a year, for primary school students and $750 a
> > year for those in secondary school.
> >
> > Tax-deductible items include home PCs, laptops, printers, home
> > internet connections, education software and school textbooks.
> >
> >
>
>
>
> You should be aware of the article below as it is true also of
> Australia.  This is anti competitive practise, notwithstanding that most
> importantly it is anti intellectual development and therefore constrains
> local software developers and engineers.  This denies local industry
> growth.  We become a software industry colony.
>
> Yet the ACCC offer me and all other unknowing taxpayers no solace or
> apparent remedy.  That is, without charging me for the privilege of
> notifying an "exclusive dealing notification", in my attempt to save the
> nation money!  That of its own is anti-competitive, should the ACCC
> investigate itself?
>
> We should be able to purchase cars other than Fords, and we do.
> Government has to call tenders with a broad brush to any specification,
> it would seem with the exception of software!
>
> How much, each year, do the three tiers of government pay to license
> Microsoft software onto government desktops??  Some three years ago,
> with the now defunct Open Source Centre in WA, I estimated the figure to
> be $5 billion.  Yes, billion!  Now that would be a nice present in the
> new year for the Australian taxpayer?!
>
> This needs to be fixed, and quickly if government is to invest in this
> area in a volume indicated by pre-election promises!
>
> There is a simple litmus test, try it yourself, just get a staffer to
> phone retail outlets for, say Dell, Lenovo (IBM) and Toshiba and ask for
> a "Naked Laptop" and attempt to insist "No Windows software."
>
> Sincerely, and in anticipation of taxpayer value in Desktop software
> procurement by government agencies, and the hexadecimally colonised.
>
>
> Jim Duffield
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
>
> From:  http://tinyurl.com/yv2cxf
>
> Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2007 02:59:41 +0900
>
> Top five PC manufacturers fail naked PC test
> Tags:
> Freedos,
> Naked Pc,
> Atwal,
> Naked Pcs
>
> Richard Thurston ZDNet.co.uk
>
> Published: 16 Mar 2007 10:38 GMT
>
>      * Email
>      * Trackback
>      * Clip Link
>      * Print friendly
> Top five PC manufacturers fail naked PC test
>
> IT professionals are being forced to adopt Microsoft's operating systems
> — even if they tell their PC supplier they want a system free of
> Microsoft software, ZDNet UK's research has revealed.
>
> ZDNet's reporters posed as undercover buyers to identify the policy of
> the top-five PC vendors in terms of supplying systems without an
> operating system, known as naked PCs. A naked PC gives IT professionals
> freedom to install the operating system of their choice.
>
> But the ZDNet investigation showed that none of the five manufacturers
> would sell any PCs without Windows, our reporters found.
>
> The reasons — or excuses — were varied.
>
> Acer said it would give our reporter a refund of £30 for not using
> Windows, but would only make a refund if we drove to its Plymouth
> "repair" centre. In contrast to other reports, Dell refused to refund
> the Windows software if it went unused. Instead it offered to cancel the
> shipping charge of £50 as a compromise.
>
> We backed up our undercover enquiries with official calls to every one
> of the five vendors. Two of the five — Acer and Toshiba — would not
> discuss the matter with us. Dell, HP and Lenovo claimed it was possible
> to buy naked PCs from their company — but our attempts to follow their
> guidance to buy one proved impossible.
>
> Dell and HP both claimed it was possible to buy a naked PC from them,
> but we were unable to buy one from either vendor. Lenovo told us it
> sells PCs with pre-installed Linux, but it could not tell us how we
> could buy such a system.
>
> Microsoft has placed considerable pressure on a number of PC vendors not
> to sell systems without Windows. Critics have suggested that vendors
> have yielded to such pressure because they are afraid of losing their
> bulk purchasing discount with Microsoft. Others have suggested that it
> would cost PC vendors considerably more in unit costs to produce naked
> PCs.
>
> Ranjit Atwal, Gartner principal analyst, is pessimistic about the future
> for naked PCs. "The market for Linux is probably not big enough for them
> [suppliers] to go down that route," said Atwal, adding that he thought
> the number of users wanting to use Linux at the desktop was "in the
> small single digits".
>
> "To do that [provide systems without Windows] costs them money," he
> argued.
>
>
>
>
> -- Jim Duffield PQG____________LINUX User #351552____________0415-710538
> =======================================================================
> "One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that
> you end up being governed by your inferiors." Plato
>
> _______________________________________________
> PLUG discussion list: plug at plug.org.au
> http://www.plug.org.au/mailman/listinfo/plug
> Committee e-mail: committee at plug.linux.org.au
>

--
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.plug.org.au/pipermail/plug/attachments/20071222/59101a82/attachment.html>