[ubuntu-uk] UK government backs open source

[Rowan]

I may not know much about operating systems, but I know a smokescreen 
when I see one, and this guy Richard Steel's blog looks to me like just 
one big smokescreen for the status quo as defined by whoever happens to 
be in control of the bureaucracy at the time. The expression 'Open 
Standards' sounds conveniently vague to me, but maybe it has some 
precise meaning for some who consider it important. The 'Society of IT 
Management' sounds throughly status quo oriented to me, both from this 
person's blog and from its own website. I admit I have no fondness for 
local government, in the first place.

Chris Rowson wrote:
> And here's the response from the president of Socitm. No comments yet 
> I notice, but this seems like a very MS point of view!
>
> http://socitmpresident.blogspot.com/
>
> # Open Standards are definitely required.
>
> # I don’t like the term “Open Source”. It’s misleading; what many people 
> mean is “anything but Microsoft”; few businesses actually use open 
> source directly – they buy software derived from open source that has 
> been commercially packaged and sold with support, which, in practice, 
> is little different to licensed software.
>
> # Nevertheless, competition is great for keeping suppliers focussed on 
> delivering customer value, and “Open Source” has certainly played its 
> part.
>
> # All the same, software is only one part of the Total Cost of Ownership 
> equation; don’t consider it in isolation, but as part of the full TCO 
> and lifecycle costs.
>
> # “Open Source” software development, in my experience, lags proprietary 
> development by several years. I don’t think we could achieve the 
> anytime, anywhere fixed and mobile infrastructure with tele-presence 
> we require, now, for flexible and new ways of working using only Open 
> Source.
>
> # I agree with reuse, and it’s a very significant factor in the 
> Microsoft Public Sector software licensing project I’m involved in 
> (and not allowed to talk about).
>
> # If it works for you – fine. I wouldn’t rule-out so-called “Open 
> Source”; Newham has used it for some applications since the time it 
> did its deal with Microsoft (probably the first UK public sector 
> procurement of Microsoft as a supplier) and continues to do so.
>