Great letter. The FOSSCOMM letter could add that if Kerala Government uses proprietary geo data formats, these formats could become redundant once the Government of India mandates open standards.
Venky On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 2:56 PM, Anivar Aravind <[email protected]>wrote: > On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 2:15 PM, Ashik S <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi all > > > > The Free Software Users' Group Thiruvananthapuram has sent the following > > letter to the Chief Minister of Kerala as well as the secretary of state > for > > IT. ( link: > > > http://www.fosscommunity.in/wiki/Letter_to_Chief_Minister_of_Kerala_on_IT_Policy_Violation > > ). > > > > "We, the Free Software Community in Thiruvananthapuram, understand that > the > > Kerala State IT Mission is setting up a new organization called KSDI ( > Kerala > > State Spatial Data Infrastructure ). They have put up a Request for > Proposals > > (RFP), on the IT Mission's website, for selection of total solution > providers > > for setting up a Geoportal and Clearinghouse for the Kerala State Spatial > Data > > Infrastructure (KSDI). The tender document available for download in the > above > > link describes an infrastructure that could be completely supported by > Free > > and Open Source Software, but it calls for using proprietary solutions. > The > > state's IT Policy mandates the use of Free Software for government > agencies > > and the tender document is a blatant violation of this policy. > > > > Specific points that we wish to point out: > > > > 1. A clear violation in the stated IT policy : The tender document > > specifically calls for the purchase of proprietary software (pages > 109-110) > > like > > > > Microsoft Windows XP Professional > > ERDAS imagine > > ERDAS Vector, autoSync, VirtualGis, > > ERDAS Map2PDF, MosaicPro > > LPS Core, LPS Stereo, LPS Automatic terrain > > Editor, Terrain Extraction > > ArcInfo > > ArcGIS 3D Analyst, Network analyst > > ArcView > > Oracle 10i, SQL Server, .net > > > > 2. In several sections in the RFP, support for some proprietary > > technologies like Active Directory Services are being demanded. These are > > neither requisites nor irreplaceable as per the requirements in the RFP. > No > > free software solution will be able to provide support for these > proprietary > > technologies fully but there are many that might effectively replace > them. > > > > 3. The RFP does not necessitate that the software developed for the > > government is to be under free software license. Nor is it asking for > handing > > over the copyright to the government so that the government can release > it and > > maintain it under free software licenses. This is serious since this > makes the > > government dependant on the service provider forever and effectively bars > any > > future move by the government to change the service provider and switch > over > > to a better or self supporting scheme. > > > > 4. The RFP demands that proprietary geo data formats have to be > supported. > > This leaves a loop hole for usage of proprietary software to be used. > This > > also prevents usage of free software to access and manipulate data in > such > > format, limiting the current as well as future scope for free software > usage. > > > > > > We do not know how this document with such blatant violation of the > state's IT > > policy has come through from a government which is actively promoting > Free > > Software. But we are sure that if the government goes ahead with the > purchase > > of such expensive proprietary software it is only the third party > proprietary > > software providers who are going to benefit for as long as the project > stays > > alive. We believe that it is our responsibility to bring this to your > > attention and to bring to your notice that the requirements could be > satisfied > > using Free Software without risking vendor lock in and without wasting > public > > funds. > > > > We, the Free Software Community in Thiruvananthapuram, request the > Honourable > > Chief Minister to look into the situation and take necessary steps to > avoid > > this violation and save the state money amounting to crores of rupees. We > also > > request the government to invest money that is being held for these > purposes > > to build reusable free software components for this project so that > similar > > future endeavours by the government as well as the community might > benefit > > from it. Such move also guarantees employment generation at the local > level > > and the money the state spends will remain in the state itself instead of > > going out to foreign software monopolies. " > > > > > Great Initiative Ashik, and ILUG TVM friends, lets draft a letter from > FOSSCOMM using same points . anyone want to add more points? > > Anivar > _______________________________________________ > network mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.fosscom.in/listinfo.cgi/network-fosscom.in >
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