[Fwd: Re: [Fsfe-uk] OSS Pol. v2 and other stuff]

[Ian Lynch]

On Fri, 2004-09-10 at 10:51, Lee Braiden wrote:
> On Friday 10 Sep 2004 11:14, graham wrote:
> > Lee Braiden wrote:
> > I imagine all the talk about paying attention to open source in
> > procurement policies is now so much hot air (at national level, at
> > least)
> 
> Yes, that's a worry of mine, too.
> 
> I know of one case in Northern Ireland, where a high-profile tender was under 
> consideration, and, despite the very high relative performance of the company 
> in question, they were told that they had "said all the right things", but 
> they failed to mention "one word: Microsoft" :(  And I suspect this is 
> because their tender mentioned that they were keeping up to date with the 
> government's own OSS efforts!  This, in a contract that had already been 
> specified in full, with no mention of Microsoft, and no reason to require it 
> except perhaps laziness or fear of the unknown, on the part of government IT 
> staff.

The people in question should contact Edward Anderson at the Office of
Fair Trading. Instead of whinging and moaning and developing conspiracy
theories, use the same bureaucratic system to make the Civil Servants' 
lives hell if they do this. They will think twice about it next time if
the OFT start sending them investigation correspondence. Believe me the
stuff is intimidating. 

I think similar tactics have certainly made some difference in the NHS.
We need to fight for change not just worry about why things aren't
changing.
> 
> Un
-- 
Ian Lynch <address@hidden>
ZMS Ltd