LinuxMAX: Open Letter: The State of OSS Adoption by New Zealand Government
Jun 21, 2002, 19:00 (7 Talkback[s])
"I will not bore you with the usual rhetoric on this debate,
since most of you simply want to go to work, be productive and go
home. What computer platform (Operating System) you do that on most
likely doesn't matter to you a whole lot, as it doesn't to most
people. Most of you use Windows at home and at work so the
continued use of this "standard" would seem a no-brainer. It used
to be, since Microsoft was really the first company to bring a
computer Operating System with any kind of easy graphical
functionality to the home user. As such, they have achieved a
complete and monopolistic market dominance of the Personal Computer
market. Nowadays however there are many Open Source alternatives to
Microsoft products.
"I am not an eloquent man but I am a concerned one. Concerned
men (and women) with morals and courage speak out, even when the
issues are complex and the solution seems hopeless or difficult.
When one does the math, 80,000 Microsoft licensing seats at the
hoped for rate of $250 per seat per year is $20 million per year to
Microsoft (a lot of money when one considers that the population of
New Zealand is less than 4 million). What can we buy with $NZ 20
million in each and every year? A provincial hospital, a new
school? In contrast does Microsoft add $NZ 20 million to our
economy? This kind of money (even if it ends up being less than
this because MS cuts NZ a better deal) going from our government
into the hands of a foreign business should be avoided at all
costs..."
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