[oclug] Parliament refuses to give Linux a fair chance

[Richard Tomkins]

Geez Bill. I guess I really pressed your hot button.

You will note with extreme clarity that I did not use any of the defamatory
or inflamation producing words that you did in your response.
I expressed a passing thought.
I am glad that you have such an in depth knowledge of how IT works within
the government. Please, explain to us how your statements fly in the face of
our observation, the fact that the library (management) feels it is in it's
best interest to restrict itself to Microsoft at all costs, given such higly
trained staff on hand to advise or encourage otherwise.

rtt

----- Original Message -----
From: "Strosberg, Bill" <bill.strosberg at rcpsc.edu>
To: <oclug at lists.oclug.on.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2001 1:03 PM
Subject: RE: [oclug] Parliament refuses to give Linux a fair chance


> > From: Richard Tomkins [mailto:tomkinsr at home.com]
> > Subject: Re: [oclug] Parliament refuses to give Linux a fair chance
> >
> >
> > I did read this article as well.
> > I suspect that given the lower wages of the average public
> > servant, that the
> > level of knowledge that they Library deals with in it's current IT
> > environment is such that they can't really afford much more
> > than people
> > familiar with Windows. The introduction of Linux requires
> > people with a
> > stronger knowledge base and skill set in the infrastructure
> > and the budget
> > isn't there for that.
>
>  ---- WHAT? ----
>
> This whole post is so far out in left field it may have been written in
> Redmond.
>
> Public servants are reasonably well paid, given good benefits, pension,
job
> security and lower performance expectations (when compared to start ups).
> Yes, they forfeit the high risk/high reward lottery-like salaries, but
> considering quality of life and lack of risk-enduced stress $100K+
salaries
> are not everything.  As an independant contractor, I consider family days,
> paid vacations, training budgets, stability and fixed hours of work as
> pretty important.  Technology job advancement in the government happens at
> an accelerated rate, and many traditional barriers (language preference)
are
> bent or dropped to secure good people.  I bet there are a lot of
> ex-Nortel/Alcatel/JDS/etc. people willing to work in placid stability for
> $60K plus staggering benefits right now.
>
> As far as knowledge goes, people I know in information technology roles in
> the public service are reasonably well informed and have the benefit of
very
> high levels of annual training and access to courses.  Yes, they live in a
> Microsoft-centric world, but they are not blithering idiots by any
stretch.
>
> If the reader had read the article, the vendor was providing an
email-based
> new clipping service, therefore I suspect the end users never even see the
> platform that does the gathering (I'm pretty sure Milan could help clear
> things up).  As far as management console type stuff goes, Tk-based stuff
on
> X provides a very undemanding user interface.  Mime-base email messages
> constructed with Linux look exactly like Mime-based email constructed with
> VB (except the Linux programs actually run).
>
> Budget?  These are the people that print money.  My wife works for a
> technology training company that sells millions of dollars to the Federal
> government, and the "get-rid-of-budget-surplus" feeding frenzy every year
> end makes me convulse with envy.
>
> This is a very obvious case of preferential treatment that has no basis in
> the technology, pricing or cost of use and training.  It is a bureaucratic
> boondoggle of criminal proportions.
>
> --
> Bill Strosberg
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