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Re: [LUG] Opensource in Devon, 2009/10 Budget

 

Quoting Henry Bremridge <henry.bremridge@xxxxxxxxx>:

Hi Henry,

> 1/ As far as I am concerned what is more important than licensing is  
>  that the Devon County Council look carefully at what IT systems  
> they  have and make appropriate choices to cut costs and improve  
> service.  While I do not believe that Opensource is the answer to  
> every  solution and proprietary software will continue to have its  
> role; I  believe that opensource should be the default model for  
> public money.

I agree entirely.

> 2/ I have not run a PR campaign but comments in   
> http://www.writetothem.com/about-guidelines make a lot of sense to me.

I've just read them and they do make sense.  What I'm trying (and have  
been threatening for months now!) to put together is a site that is a  
resource of information that can be used as templates for people to  
help parliament/local govt/schools/others see the benefits of  
opensource.  This would include leaflets produced by LUGs/LoCos for  
different events (SFD, LUG Meets, Install Days etc), letters that have  
been written to organisations, booklets that are released under  
CC/GFDL etc. and would provide a central repository of  
Distribution-agnostic literature to promote FLOSS.  I was hoping that  
I might be able to include your letter as part of it.

> 3/ The point of my letter was to ensure that the key decision makers  
>  were aware that opensource is not "mickey mouse / hacker / teenage   
> kids" (insert your negative epithet) toy but a real tool   
> increasingly used by local governments around the world. Even the   
> Conservative Party seems to have twigged that opensource works.    
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7853086.stm

Hmmm, I'll let you know about this one, I recieved the conservative  
press release yesterday via email and am waiting for 5 minutes free  
time to read it.  The report is yet to be published.

> 4/ Given that the DCC is encouraging people to write to it on   
> suggestions on how to spend money, and given that local council   
> elections are due to take place on 04 Jun 09; then I feel the people  
>  should contact their representatives suggesting a switch to   
> opensource. But in their own words and with their own, reasoned,   
> arguments.

That's fair enough, I'm looking for ways to help people in the  
direction of writing well-structured letters/leflets by example.

Kind regards,

Matt
-- 
Matthew Macdonald-Wallace
matthew@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.truthisfreedom.org.uk/

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