[ Thanks to Jason
Greenwood for this link. ]
“At a debate on the future of Australia’s ICT industry, during a
fringe event to the recent ALP Conference in Sydney, NSW Minister
for Commerce John Della Bosca surprised the delegates with his
comments that his government was examining open source software
(OSS) alternatives and would consider moving away from proprietary
software lock-ins.“He admitted that his government had been ‘dumb buyers of IT for
a long time’ and wanted to become better buyers, users, and sellers
of information and IT.“In my view–and I said so at the event–our governments at all
levels should be looking at all alternatives and considering OSS
options as they have the potential to create local ICT jobs and
reduce the ICT trade deficit of $14.4 billion…”