[ILUG] email sent to potiticians about Mary Hannafin'sdecisionnotto use open source

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

Martin List-Petersen wrote:
> Citat dr_gonzo at redbrick.dcu.ie:
> 
> 
>>>>yeah, imho, there really needs to be a strong lobbying force for open
>>>>source software. at least then there would be at least an awareness of
>>>>OSS.
>>>>
>>>
>>>Well theres no use in saying there should be this that or the other its
>>>something we need to do then.
>>
>>true, this has been brought up before when various media people have
>>spread FUD about OSS. afaik ILUG does have press releases but ILUG should
>>be more active and not just reactive.
> 
> 
> Let's found ILUG's PR department, create a mailinglist for that and get going
> :o) ... seriously, there are LUG's that actually point it out to politicians.
> SSLUG (Sjælland Skåne Linux User Group - http://www.sslug.dk/, currently couting
> 5840 members) is politically very active and does a lot about stuff like this in
> Denmark. 
> 
> So who's on for getting ILUG politically and publicly on the screen, beyond
> being a forum for Irish Linux Users ?
> 
> 

I think that's probably the best idea.

For a start the other side has some big hitters on the lobbying front. It's 
important that there is a counter-lobby. It's seems a bit of a non sequiter for 
us to sit back on our mailing list and bitch about the fact that the government 
is misinformed and making bad choices.

Really, in the spirit of civic responsibility, when something like the E-Voting 
scandal breaks, it's the best time to make noises about 'bad' IT decisions from 
government. Its amoral maybe, but, clearly from a government that brands the 
Irish Computer Society as 'non-experts' because it has the gaul to disagree 
with the government's decisions, simply making reasoned arguments won't work 
too well.

The lesson of the E-Voting saga, is that to get this government to move 'at 
all' you have to whip up some unreasoned, quasi-religous opposition to them.

The end justifies the means. Or words to that effect.

Certainly, my instinct would tell me that the likes of the Greens and Labour, 
would be fundamentally friendly to the ethos and yes, the cost of Open Source 
stuff as a whole. Not that I'm one for partisan politics, but, I'd say the only 
way to get movement from the government is to have media types and opposition 
types make loud noises at them.

I think that if the opposition was made aware of the dichotomy between the two 
schools of thought on Closed versus Open Source that the politicians themselves 
would adopt the cause and come up with their own arguments for it's use. 
Probably rather then trying to humiliate the government further, it would be a 
good idea to lobby the opposition and educate them if necessary about the 
issues involved and the benefits to be derived from Open Source.


-- 
Bryan O'Donoghue
Embedded Software Engineer

Europlex Technologies Ltd
Clonshaugh Business & Technology Park
Dublin 17
Ireland

T:+353 (0) 1 2500500
F:+353 (0) 1 2500590
E:bryano at euoplex.ie
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