On Thu, 11 Nov 2004 14:57:19 +0800 (PHT), Manny <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > On Thu, 11 Nov 2004, Dong Calmada wrote: > > Gov't official says pro-open source software law 'untimely' > Leave it up to someone like Emmanuel C. Lallana to > say something like this. This is the same guy who tried > to justify PLDT's local telephone metering scam a few > years ago. Of course his argument were full of holes > back then too.
Suspicions about positions being taken due to commissioneering aside: I don't know about the metering issue. I wasn't paying very much attention back then. But the point about the support network not yet being there for open source is certainly a reasonable (not necessarily correct, but it's a point that can be argued) position. Now, *I'm* a linux/postgres/free software developer and consultant, but even I don't think that the free software consultant network is large enough, or consistently good enough to support a full government switchover to free and open source software or platforms. Even assuming that the network of consultants and other paid support personnel for FOSS were ready to support the whole thing, i'm sure he's also considering the problem of retraining all those tech people they've got in the government. they can't just fire them, a lot of them are career people. so they'll have to retool them. that takes a while. And there are a lot of VB and MS-Access based government systems out there. those aren't migrating overnight either. So I see his point that it's going to be a multistage process. It's necessary to minimize risk by taking small steps, building confidence, and eventually getting there, rather than possibly taking big gambles, making huge mistakes and then having FOSS get a bad reputation for failed implementation (see the recent thread on the DTI business name registration problem). If the government is serious about moving away from closed source/proprietary software then there's going to be a huge boom in teaching linux :). tiger -- Gerald Timothy Quimpo http://bopolissimus.sni.ph [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Public Key: "gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 672F4C78" Mene sakhet ur-seveh -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [EMAIL PROTECTED] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
