On 7/15/06, Paolo Alexis Falcone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On Wed, 2006-07-12 at 23:20 +0800, Dean Michael Berris wrote: > > There was discussion on the use of "Free Software" which is a very > misleading term usually connotated to software under the GNU GPL. I > for one am just being cautious about making the mistake of restricting > the software to be proposed "favored" by government. > There is nothing wrong if government favors a solution - as long as it will favor the better welfare of its constituents (how government really does that mandate is another matter that we could discuss over a few bottles of beer though).
I like the thought of that discussion happening soon. ;)
Economically speaking, Free Software for general infrastructure is very favorable for a developing nation. It's quite cheaper to acquire and maintain, and government would have lots of choices to source its requirements. Expanding it as more people get skilled in the technologies would be also favorable as government would have the rights over the code, and can choose without getting their hands tied to a single vendor.
Yes, these are big plusses. However, the predicament that we are currently in -- the government currently using non-open source solutions that _already work_ and open source solutions (locally grown) that work but not as well as I personally would like -- we need to be pragmatic about it. If a local firm can actually get a fair playing field with regards to getting a contract sourced to them by developing open source solutions for goverment software requirements and then develop _quality_ software, that would be a good thing. However, right now, not all open source development firms in our country owned fully by Filipino nationals are qualified to bid for government software requirement projects. If that can be somehow addressed, perhaps that will be a good thing. But right now, I don't know a lot of firms that can deliver in case the government _will_ require or favor open source software for all software requirements in government.
Progressively speaking, having people trained to become producers of software infrastructure rather than mere users and consumers of proprietary software infrastructure is indeed favorable for a developing nation - no country ever developed by just importing and consuming - a nation must produce as well.
Yes, but this is like sitting in an Ivory Tower. Sure, it would great to think of the ideal case, but in the real world "training" is paramount to "doing" -- meaning, there is no better training than actually doing it. But please, don't get me wrong -- I would want to see the Philippines be treated as one of the premiere software development source countries alongside India and the US. However, I don't think it's the government's job to make that happen: it ultimately has to be done by us, the entrepreneurs and the youth that will drive the economy and growth of the nation, and eventually in the future run it. Until then, I personally will do my share -- but I don't let myself get disillusioned by the politics that is involved with getting anything done in _our_ government today and avoid making mistakes (IMO) such as requiring or unconditionally favoring open source software in the government.
> > At any rate, I don't see still why government should only use free > software still when proprietary "source available" _locally developed_ > software does the job as well if not better than open source software. > But then I think that's just me. Having source code is useless for government if the government does not have the right to reuse it freely to further the public interest. With the source code under a Free Software license, the source code isn't merely present - it now becomes an enabler. That, along with the right people who could use the code - which government can choose freely, would serve the public interest better.
Then a bill favoring Free Software license is not the solution: the solution would be a bill/law that will require that all software developed for government under a valid contract have as part of the stipulations the source code be turned over and made available for reuse and modification by the government, or a third party found to be suitable to extend the software in the future. This bill should not have anything to do with open source licenses, but rather the definition of the stipulations of contracts undertaken by the Philippine government. -- Dean Michael C. Berris C/C++ Software Architect Orange and Bronze Software Labs http://3w-agility.blogspot.com/ http://cplusplus-soup.blogspot.com/ Mobile: +639287291459 Email: dean [at] orangeandbronze [dot] com _________________________________________________ Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Read the Guidelines: http://linux.org.ph/lists Searchable Archives: http://archives.free.net.ph
