The US House of Representatives has a quite elaborate firewall and
internal communications system to protect the Congressional offices
from spam and to allow them to do internal communications. The client
side of this software, maintained by the House Information Resources(HIR),
runs on M$ and Macs. We think the client side should be ported to
Linux, for reasons which are, I'm sure, obvious to all of us.(see below!)
Some of us in our dclug have spent many E-mails, and one visit, to
our Congressman, Chris Van Hollen of the MD 8th District, urging him
to take up this cause. We have, as of Friday, achieved a first
initial success; Mr Van Hollen has agreed to forward on our proposal
to Congressman Larson, the ranking Democrat on the House Committed on
Administration(HCA). While this step is small, it is the first time
AFAIK when any member of Congress has taken any step to further the
cause of Linux, or FLOSS.
You are all having meetings quite soon. I strongly urge you to put
this matter onto your agenda for a 5-10 minute discussion. Actions
which you might consider are:
1. Writing Congressman Van Hollen a note of congratulation
Send any such E-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mr Alperson is a senior staffer in Van Hollen's office,
and E-mail to him, asking him to forward it on to
Mr Van Hollen, will reach Van Hollen better than an
E-mail to Van Hollen directly.
2. Writing to Rush Holt, the Congressman for central NJ, including the
Princeton area. Mr Holt, being a PhD in physics, has the reputation of
being technicall adept, and is indeed sponsoring a very important bill
mandating a voter verifiable paper trail in all Federal elections. It
is our belief that he can be persuaded to support Mr Van Hollen's
initiative.
Again, don't sent E-mail to Mr Holt directly; rather
send it to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mr Gordon is a senior staffer in Mr Holt's office; ask him
to forward whatever you write on to Mr Holt.
3. Joining linux-pe; this is an E-list run from the tux.org site here in
the D.C. area. Linux-pe stands for "Linux: Public Education" and is meant
to be a site where local, state and national governments are contacted with
the intention of using Linux more intensively than they do now. To
join this E-list, go to:
http://www.tux.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-pe
and "follow the bouncing ball"<g>.
There is also a web site -- definitely a "work in progress"
http://www.pervasivenetwerks.com/linux-pe/index.php
A couple of words about the advantages of using Linux in government:
a) it will save those governments that use it quite a bit of money.
b) it will provide more power, and more security, for said governments.
c) since government records are normally expected to be archived for
substantial lengths of time, they should be kept in Open formats, not
in formats with bells and whistles which change every few years to
feed a ravenous commercial appetite.
d) (last but perhaps not least<g>) increased use of Linux in goverment
entities throughout the US will provide good jobs in training, design,
and support for Linuxers throughout this Fair Land!
Best wishes to all! and let this resident of Silver Spring MD know how
the meetings go.
Best wishes,
Alan
--
Alan McConnell : http://patriot.net/users/alan
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Actually there is a good web site:
http://www.PantsOnFire.net . Check it out!
