> I hope that that is something that you all find helpful, regardless of your > political orientation.
It's going to be a really fun next few years as Obama starts putting his principles in action. I'm having a little trouble giving away FOSS related products and services locally. I've offered the local Hinesburg Ride Share committee my volunteer services to put together a little web-based database for carpoolers... with some Google maps that would help us find matches. I've actually already done all the web development proofs-of concept.. and now I just want to tailor it to fit the needs for privacy that have been identified. The Hinesburg Rides committee wants to wait before we offer it to locals who have already filled out a carpool form, because the state might pay lots of money for something better, and they wouldn't want to have a free, custom-tailored, stop-gap solution, just in case it wasn't sustainable (which I'm taking to mean that it's something that they know they can do forever.) It's funny, but from our perspective there's nothing more sustainable than open source software, but somehow that doesn't ring true for the decision makers. In my couple of committee meetings I haven't even used the words open source... I just mention that the very worst case is that I'm no longer available, and they would have to find a consultant to make future changes that they require. At most they would have to pay for a better-than-average web hosting plan if they needed more hosting horsepower than I can provide. They haven't said no yet... but there's definitely some hesitation while they wait for something commercial to be put in place by the state. I think they want the state to adopt Maine's http://www.gomaine.org/ site, which seems pretty minimal to me. I *think* we have to (if we really want to advocate open source) join in the slow political process at the state or county level, and see if we can (in the minds of the committee members) compete with the commercial offerings. This probably means forming our (non-profit?) organization that really has legs, and can respond to any need for open source consulting in a way that is truly professional. Does anyone else on the list feel the urge to volunteer some tech time to get some great open source solutions implemented for the state? Is there a more direct route than volunteering? -Jim
