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Selling Open Source software into the Public Sector

Why is it so hard to sell Free, Open Source solutions into the Public Sector especially Local Authorities?

You would have thought that it would be easy - after all FOSS solutions for services such as e-mail, collaboration software, and learning platforms are demonstrably cheaper and more effective than their proprietary equivalents.

You would also be encouraged by the Government mandating that all public sector IT procurements show that due consideration has been given to Open Source solutions alongside proprietary ones.

Open Source, P2P and the Pirate Party

The Swedish champion of civil liberties and scourge of outdated monopolist Copyright and Patent Laws has made it to the UK. The Pirate Party, famous for losing a recent P2P file-sharing trial, is bloodied unbowed and recruiting.

...good timing too. Riding roughshod over the Minister for Transformation Tom Watson, the First Secretary of State, Lord Peter Mandelson recently announced that whole families will have their broadband access cut if any one of them is caught illegally sharing files.

What?

Information Technology becomes a UK Election Issue

With an election on the horizon both the Conservatives and Labour are increasingly triangulating on issues they believe will win them votes. This is business-as-usual, but what is remarkable this time round is that Information Technology is heading for centre stage in the game.

Never before has ICT been considered political, but after a long string of Government projects most observers would characterise as failed or failing, absurdly late, and obscenely expensive it has earnt it's place.

It's political - a measure of both a Government's competence and it's financial acumen - both key issues in an election.

Software vendors and the UK Government: how to peer behind the scenes

In the Open Source world we are rarely privy to what goes on behind closed doors in the world of ICT in UK gov. However, we have been remarkably 'lucky' over the years to fish out just what is going on. By popular request here's how it's done: The Spencer System.

This is my own system used for detective work when dealing with official releases written or spoken in Mandarin-Speak. They invariably consist of: lies (verifiable and non verifiable); 'economical truths'; weasel words; spin and monkey shaking. A glossary is provided at the end for those unfamiliar with the terms.

The People's Cloud

Ok, so now we know,

John Suffolk's (the Cabinet Office CIO) generously replied to my questions posed in last week's blog. G-Cloud is 'go' and it will be a Private Cloud, based on Open Standards and will use a mix of proprietary and (free?) open source software. All I reckon is left it to see whether it's stitched together by Microsoft's technology or Red Hat's.

UK Government ditches Microsoft's Cloud in favour of Open Source?

In a world of spin, smoke and mirrors working out what is 'going down' is not easy and requires the full use of the "Spencer-scale".

At one end of this sale is 'paranoia', just feelings nothing more, moving through 'guessing' to 'speculation' and then on to 'putting two and two together'. At the other end is 'analysis' (of the facts) and ultimately a simple if rare report of the 'knowns'.

Windows in Schools, Open Source at Home

Anyone remember Computer Assisted Learning or CAL? No? Well it's back.

Ever since the first computer to draw a graph or do that parsing thing to allow kids to fill in missing words, ICT has been the 'Great Beige Hope' that would revolutionise teaching and learning.

It's all tosh by the way. Ignore the fake stats and the deluded evangelists. CAL (or interactive computer lead learning) is simply a gimmick perpetuated by the faux trendsetters with good hair that stalk education.

Linux desktop will trounce Windows 7

This month naked marketing muscle once again shows us how it should be done. In the UK, Microsoft made it to number one as the most respected and trusted brand, ahead even of Mercedes-Benz. The people have spoken.

Quite an achievement considering Vista bombed and no amount of PR power could persuade the non-OEM consumer otherwise. Now, obviously before it was too late and the Windows brand itself was damaged, Windows 7 has been released. Word is that it is OK, better even than XP.

G-Cloud and our privacy

There are fine lines between realism and cynicism, wariness and paranoia and never more so when trying to piece together what a particularly slippery government is doing. One could just read what they say they are doing on the public record and believe what they say but that surely would, in the light of experience, just be plain silly.

Browser Wars: Get the facts! Sort of...

Most people use only one browser. They further divide into the ones that choose the browser they use and so use the browser they prefer, and those who use the browser they were given.

Even fewer, myself amongst them, use different browsers on a regular basis. Depending on which machine and platform I am on I use Firefox, IE7, Chrome and Opera. Updated, the list now reads Firefox 3, Opera Unite and IE8; I am waiting for Chrome on Linux.