Marc Roberson, Texas resident and LibLime colleague wrote a great comment on a post at OSTATIC that asks why Open Source wasn’t considered for Texas government computers. This from OSTATIC author Sam Dean:

Earlier this month, Computerworld reported on the Texas state Senate banning Windows Vista from use in government agencies. Specifically, Senator Juan Hinojosa proposed the ban because “of the many reports of problems with Vista.” Microsoft officials reacted angrily, saying “we’re surprised that the Texas Senate Finance Committee adopted a rider which, in effect, singles out a specific corporation and product for unequal treatment.” Hinojosa has proposed Windows XP and the upcoming Windows 7 as alternatives, but why wasn’t moving to an open source solution even considered? That’s the gist of an interesting letter sent to Hinojosa, and here are some of the good points it makes.

Our very own Marc Roberson answered:

As someone who has worked on the commercial side of software for more years than I care to admit, I have to say that making the move to Open Source Solutions was a no brainer. I worked for two very large companies that supplied proprietary systems for libraries around the world. The cost of maintenance was so high that libraries were literally closing their doors to keep their systems under a maintenance contract that just kept increasing. Our solutions save them sometimes 70% or more allowing libraries to do what they do best: give patrons ubiquitous access to stable, safe, customizable technology.

In this “recession” there is no excuse for not exploring the alternatives. To do so would be a breach of fiduciary responsibility to the community as a whole.

As for stealth installations of OSS….. if you are using Firefox, you’re using open source. If you’re using Apache, you’re using open source… now the next step is Open Office and more specialized applications that can truly save big bucks and make a difference at the same time!

Is your state using or considering open source? I’d love to hear about it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 8:52 am by Nicole C. Engard and is filed under Open Source. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.