Government Users Start Looking Under Linux Hood

"Last week, at the Intergovernmental Technology Conference in Harrisburg, Pa., Lynn C. Willenbring, the CIO for the city of Minneapolis, said in an interview that one reason she's not brought in open source software for key uses in her department so far is that it can be harder to find the right applications because there's no easy way to sort through all the offerings. It's not like picking up the phone and calling a vendor, or even like having a vendor call her to tell her or her staff about their latest software, which could fill a specific need, she said.

""One of the challenges from a government perspective is that when we go out for an RFP (Request for Proposal), it's the current [commercial] vendors who answer the RFP," she said. "You don't have open source groups seeking RFPs. We just don't see open source responses.""

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