[kwlug-disc] OSS/linux politics

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

On Tue, Oct 5, 2010 at 8:19 PM, Insurance Squared Inc. <
gcooke at insurancesquared.com> wrote:

> So it's political open season right now.  Municipal elections are in full
> swing.
>
> If you were elected a local councillor, how would you integrate linux/OSS
> into the municipal structure?  And by integrate, I mean actually pull it off
> somehow, from within a rigid beauracractic structure?
>
> What would you do if you had a linux/OSS advocate as councillor?
>

Talk business, don't talk ideology.

Talk savings.

Talk more secure, less prone to malware.

Talk upgrade at your own pace, avoiding the upgrade treadmill.

Mention its strengths and weaknesses (e.g. will not run QuickBooks).

Admit that it complements what is there, and not replace everything.

Be clear that the switching is going to involve a learning curve initially.

Try pushing it where it is invisible first (e.g. backends, e.g. serving web
apps), where there could be possible support from IT, and fewer people
needing to be trained (and be opposed to the change, complaining about
it all the time).

Tell them there is local support.

Talk about success stories (would be good if we can compile a Canadian
list, preferrably government elsewhere).
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
2bits.com, Inc.
http://2bits.com
Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://kwlug.org/pipermail/kwlug-disc_kwlug.org/attachments/20101005/725bd9c1/attachment.htm>