> > > Lobbying for adoption of OSS in the government. > > > > Nice idea, but with Austin Gatt having done that deal with M$, there > > would be an uphill struggle to get OSS into govt, even if you could > > show them the (huge) cost benefits. > > > One can still push for wider adoption of Linux. Maybe on servers at > first.
There in lies the issue that if a push is made for greater adoption of Linux, this will not sit well with M$. Considering the package that M$ agreed with the govt here to supply applications (albeit to 'students') at vastly discounted prices, were the govt to then start looking at adopting Linux even at a small scale and on the back end, I'm sure that M$ would have a problem with this as they make a hefty profit from server and CAL licences. Quite possibly there are also certain restrictions that the govt have agreed to in the small print regarding the use of other OSes for a certain period of time in exchange for the discounted s/w. One can push, agreed, but one should not expect that anything would come of it! I'd suggest that perhaps a better course of action is to push local businesses to adopt Linux in place of Windoze NT servers, better chance of success there. Regs. Iain.
