[Ubuntu-be] Fwd: SOCIALWARE AND OPEN SOURCE

[Nicolas Pettiaux]

2007/7/12, mongolito404 <mongolito404 at gmail.com>:
> thank you for taking the time to represent us :)

indeed


> > > structural solution that could rapidly help the NPOs obtaining an
> > > appropriate and efficient operational environment. I did not look for
> > > THE solution, but to A solution, most particularly taking into account
> > > the speed of deployment of any solution as well as the final
> > > objective.

this solution is not independent

> > > The primary short term issue to be addressed was the affordability of
> > > professional IT software and hardware while preserving continuity of
> > > existing environments.

this is a very strong demand that does not apply to many oraganization
that had no IT before, and to me that goes well beyond the first
objective.

> > > Since July 2006, the project has been extended to Non Profit Sector
> > > (NPOs with a clear social aim).  In this wider context we received the
> > > support of the King Baudouin Foundation. You will easily understand
> > > that our mission, scope and priorities have been thoroughly discussed
> > > with the Foundation. Some of you intend to contact the Foundation -
> > > feel free to do so if you believe it appropriate.

how does he know ?

We could do it with them before as suggested.

> > > Vis-à-vis the Open Source products, our position has been that these
> > > solutions were quite well known and had a wide web coverage already,
> > > so we choose not devoting our scarce resources, mostly volunteers, to
> > > address already solved problems and rather concentrated our efforts on
> > > what was unresolved so far, i.e. getting donated products from vendors
> > > on behalf of the NGO community.

I do not believe in this.

Microsoft products have a much wider coverage, and advertising today
than free software.

> > > We hardly saw what added value we might have in distributing Open
> > > Source products at this stage, but on this point we certainly would
> > > appreciate your views.

propose choice and tools that do not link the users to proprietary
vendors that look for later ways to keep these users captives.

> This is a key point for us, as we cannot simply
> > > advertise a product without a significant added value in the process;
> > > else we would have to publish a list of any available product to treat
> > > them in an even way.

> > > We also declined to advertise several product offerings based on open
> > > source, but with proprietary layers which are bundled with support
> > > contracts: taken as a whole these offers were far from open because
> > > they actually made the buyer captive of a single supplier for any
> > > maintenance and support.

> > > But in any case, the choice of the solution (Open Source or not,
> > > Supplier X or Y) rests and should rest with the NPO itself, it is not
> > > our mission to influence this choice in any way – we only eliminate
> > > some financial constraints out of such a selection process so that the
> > > NPO decision can be based on sheer technical, benefits, or strategic
> > > considerations from their own perspective.

by proposing only one toolset, they do not really give the choice to
the users IMHO

> > > I hope that this brief update sheds some light on our mission and code
> > > of conduct.

some.

I just gave some ideas of an answer, and I am really persuaded that we
need to find a proposition to socialware that can align with this
mail.

I would with pleasure help and contribute to this in september

Thanks,

Nicolas

-- 
Nicolas Pettiaux - email: nicolas.pettiaux at ael.be
Utiliser des formats ouverts et des logiciels libres -
http://www.passeralinux.org.
Pour la bureautique, les seuls formats ISO sont ceux de http://fr.openoffice.org