[Novalug] FOSE - thoughts continued

[Roger W. Broseus]

. . . whoops: I accidentlly hit the "enter" key and sent an incomplete
message (fetilizer!).

. . . A VERY GOOD QUESTION was asked at Saturday's NOVALUG meeting: what
are the needs of "the government." A corrolary for me would be: what
solutions have been successful. And I think about this with a LINUX bias.

This is where people like Pete might weigh-in.

My memory tells me about Linux being heavily used in technical /
programing / scientific applications as well as in very secure places,
e.g., SE linux - NSA and NIST. I don't know but guess there's some servers
out there too.

I believe that the fed gov is a reflection of society (remember: it's of,
by, and for "the people"). So, the same "barriers" exist there as
elsewhere for "desktop" applications, combined with governmental inertial:
when a solution is found that works, the saying goes, don't fix it unless
it's broken [added thought: even if it is broken]. Change comes slowly.
Gov procurement systems are stuck in ruts and users are too.

Then there is the reality of what really works in Linux-based systems? Can
one synch one's black berry or Palm-bases PDA/smart phone to email
applications and the like? Can documents and presentations easily shared?
It's hard to overcome the inertia caused by "save as" e.g. an MS Word
document.

So, who is likely to be influenced by TUX / NOVALUG / volunteers? Firstly,
not many gov workers for the work environment. They must be inter-operable
and there's a big barrier there. If it's the scientific / server types,
maybe we are speaking to the choir? I believ we are still in the revival
tent stage. Reach out and touch those who are most likely to be accepting:
small groups that are flexible: small gov agencies? Non-profits (what are
they doing at FedOSE?). Educational institutions. This is a tough nut to
crack.

Formal Presentation: Thinking outside of the box: "LINUX Solutions That
Work Government." A speach in a hall just like the "big guys," given by
someone who experiences / knows where Linux solutions have been used
sucessfully and where there is potential for them. It might be a big
hurdle to overcome - to get space in a meeting room. $$ might be involved.
Ideally, this would not be a presentation by a for-profit / vendor but
given by a passionate Linux professional.

Last year's problems: we ran out of distros to give away. Ubuntu has been
a real hit. Electricity: the power was dropped so no demo after the
batteries died.

That's my few thoughts / $ 0.02 worth.

/Roger
-- 
Roger Broseus
   RogerB at bronord.com
   www.bronord.com