What's even more "stupid" is there are hundreds of Defense Contractor businesses out there (I work for one of them) and the Government dictates to us what we run for software.
Example, for one contract, which we got 0 work from so far, we were forced to change our accounting software to Deltek software. The company had to invest over 100,000 in this software just to be awarded the contract. This goes on quite a lot, not necessarily for a Mom and Pop Pipe shop (also contractor) but for the bigger business like the one I work for. I do the LAN Admin stuff for this division, and I tried to convince them that using more Open Source software was the way to go, but unfortunately it's been a slow process. They want to set up email servers in each division (in case our Corporate office goes down which it does frequently during hurricane season). I tried to tell them that running Exchange under windows wasn't the answer...Linux was a better option for a small email server...I'm still trying to convince them of this, hopefully they'll listen to me. -Judy On 10/27/05, Levi Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Yeah, what a surprise, stupid stuff from the government. > > I guess I just kind of view most of the government about as highly as I do > Microsoft so it doesn't seem like a huge surprise. The only huge surprise > to > me is that fact that Mass actually got far enough in actually TRYING to > get > an open format... But from the sounds of it, the rest of "government" will > probably step in and put a stop to any "common sense". After all, we > certainly couldn't have that, now could we? > > Levi > > On 10/27/05, DJA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Levi Smith wrote: > > > The only thing I could see would be that they're going to incur costs > in > > > uninstalling M$ and installing Openoffice, and costs for changing the > > > document format for M$ documents that don't just "straight-convert". > > > > > > Levi > > > > There is no requirement to stop using Office, only that all public > > documents be available in the neutral OpenDoc Format. How that happens > > is not being legislated (i.e. dropping Office and using OOo is /not/ an > > implied solution). It's not about applications, it's about data. > > > > In fact, the ruling makes certain exceptions for things such as > > accessibility. The requirement is that all public government docs must > > be available to all citizens in a form which is platform-agnostic. > > > > Here is some more info: > > > > http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200510261321191 > > > > > > The bottom line as far a Microsoft goes, is that M$ so far is refusing > > to modify Office to be able to produce OpenDoc files. That's _their_ > > decision, not the State of Massachusetts's. M$ has stepped into the > > cell, locked the door and swallowed the key, while screaming "I've been > > framed!". > > > > Also here is some dope on further M$ game playing. > > > > http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20051027115159254 > > > > Interesting how the file converter only converts from ODF to .Doc and > > apparently not the other way. > > > > -- > > Best Regards, > > ~DJA. > > > > > > -- > > [email protected] > > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list > > > > -- > [email protected] > http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list > -- Gossamer Axe [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
