Re: [Fsfe-uk] BECTA discriminate against FLOSS?

[Kevin Donnelly]

Hi Ian

On Saturday 03 January 2004 11:11 am, ian wrote:
I very much enjoy reading your posts, since they are based on your experience 
of actually running a business on free software, and interfacing with 
realworld users.

> The best way to do this would be for someone to capture the imagination
> of say half a dozen Chief Education Officers and get the ball rolling.

I think the big problem with all "official" bodies is that they are very 
risk-averse (for good reasons - nobody wants to get a drilling in front of 
the PAC or equivalent for "wasting taxpayers' money").  So they will tend to 
go for something that "everybody else is using".  Unfortunately, they may not 
believe that free software is here to stay, and that it really does offer all 
the benefits it promises.  I had a fairly senior individual say to me that he 
was suspicious of committing to OpenOffice.org - wasn't it just a ploy by Sun 
to gain marketshare, and wouldn't they make it proprietary again once they'd 
reached their target (whatever that was) for marketshare?  My reply about the 
licence being irretrievable didn't really convince him.

From his point of view, having experienced the IT industry's way of doing 
things up until now, this is in fact a valid concern, even if misplaced.  I 
wonder whether some sort of file of case-studies could be built up, perhaps 
under the AFFS' auspices, to try and persuade decision-makers like him that 
even though evrybody may not be using free software (yet), at least a few are 
using it effectively?  This might also help to get your ball rolling on 
getting people to take the plunge with a SIMS system.

-- 

Best wishes

Kevin Donnelly

www.kyfieithu.co.uk - Meddalwedd Rhydd yn Gymraeg