Open Source Osborne
George Osborne gave a talk this morning to a crowd of mainly public sector geeks assembled by the RSA - the notable exceptions that Guido spotted being Bryan Appleyard, Adriana Cronin-Lukas, the Doughty Street crowd and the WebCameron team.Osborne banged the drum for the government switching to Open Source and, although he didn't say it explicitly, abandoning Microsoft. The comparitive imagery is very potent, the Tories are the Google party ("Do no evil") to New Labour's Microsoft party ("Evil Corp.").
Online libertarians have a gut suspicion of the Microsoft/New Labour alliance, when Big Software meets Big Government one thing you can be sure about - we're going to get screwed financially. So Osborne is obviously hanging out with the right kind of geeks nowadays.
84 comments:
I'm hijacking your |\| 3 \/\/ 5 to ask for a post regarding the disgraceful behaviour of Sadiq Khan in condeming Patrick Mercer's right to Free Speech, and the Tory Party's refusal to grant it to him.
I believe that the French government switched to Open Source a few years ago.
DK
You mean you didn't spot me?
Well the commonest web server is open source, MySql is first class and FREE! I use Open Office and with Sun putting the source code for Solaris on the web it is patently the way to go .....
Praise the Lord and switch to Mac.
Microsoft is the devil's own machine code.
As a Tory, I am oddly excited by this. It's the sort of brilliant left-field proposal that could really transform the ability of St Thomas's not to confuse all my test results.
I can see the arguments for Open Source - but my main problem is that without exception the many geeks I have seen who advocate (nay evangelise for it) are completely bonkers irrespective of their politics - and I worry what we might be letting ourselves in for. At least Bill Gates has sort of joined the real world.
Whichever goverment decide to use opensource, I bet you some great IT guy in it will decide it needs modifying for goverment use ,and end up spending millions on nothing ,all they need is a couple of kids from school and it wouldn't cost anything.
Open source is all well and good when it works, for a specific function, and if it is reasonably well supported. However the problem is it doesn't always work in a joined up fashion, nor is as user friendly as windows. I recently had a go at Ubuntu the supposed "linux for human beings" OS, and found my way ok, but it wasn't as simple as it made out, and I'm considered quite the geek about town by my friends.
My point is that open source can go very wrong, and is less intensively developed than commercial products and thus you can get caught up in functional bottlenecks that reduce any licence savings to nothing while you figure out how to get your open source software to do what you want! That, in the end, can cost more money than you saved.
Try using openoffice 2.1 and compare it with the latest version of MS Office, the MS program is years ahead and certainly far far easier to use.
Is that little spaz Osborne still knocking about?
Hope you have rushed your report to the CC Guido. This Tories Talking Tory and Socialists Speaking Socialist nonsense really must stop. Good to hear that the Tories are the googlists - we tell you what you want to hear mother china and meanwhile rich and information-rich geeks get even richer - whereas Labour are seen to be fixated on the clunky universal solution with the big heart and massive charity.
I hate Microsoft. I drive Macintosh. Have done since time. But Gideon is being daft as I'll wage CCHQ and his own office etc etc etc are all of course driven by MS.
Hey, fuckwit, hear about Patrick Mercer?
Same old Tories, same old racists ...
if they could couple this with a credible idea on employing a viable private sector person to run the civil service they would be quids in.
Regardless of political view when governments start having secret inquiries into clerical errors because it makes them look so stupid, you know you have won the argument. these guys are an incompetent, spiteful bunch of clowns who never ever did try and "run" the country just the media. lets face it not very hard.Th epublic want a change of direction on admin, central control and lack of acountability
We also need a demolition of gordos financial bullshit. Surely when people see the reality of the economic outlook assumptions, and the risks it poses to an already contracting public spending programme the results are plain to see.
Labour claims of success are simply not true and not recognised by the public, they have wasted money to achieve little, an important, maybe crucial point is that we are now restricted for 10 years to repair the finances he has lied about.
Its imperitive people understand the consequences of an unchanged growth target, in the knowledge we are over borrowed and are entering a consolidation phase. 1% off GDP going forward wrecks Gordo's spin and gives prior warning of the contraction of spending round the corner that is inevitable
If this is as good as it ever gets most peopel will choose lower taxes than crap services and lies.
3:35 PM
Check it out little one ,he's gone , why hasn't bliar.
Bill Gates in his testimony to the senate in the US yesterday called for unfettered immigration for IT professionals. The same has been going on in the UK for years. It put over 30,000 British IT professionals out of work at one point. Many have never been able to return to the industry because of their time out of work or their age. The long term result is that there is a drop in the number of British IT graduates as there is no way they will have a career long enough to repay their student loans.
Far from improving competition and improving the skills of the country, it destroys people’s long-term earning capacity and, in reality, destroys the countries skills pool. The US should take note of the damage done in the UK and look to improve the skills of the people already in the industry rather than undermine them as has happened in the UK.
"why hasn't bliar"
It's spelt BLAIR. Oh, well, never mind!
To all the dear readers just nip over to The Spectator and read an article by one Fraser Nelson.
Superb!!
Agree completely with Priam on this. Opensource or Bazaar software is really good and (operative word) free just so long as it does the job you want it to without the need to go into Terminal/Console and correct things the programmers left out. What you pay for with a Mac, and certainly MS Office on Mac is pretty much faultless, is the knowledge that a lot of the faults have already been discovered and corrected. Unfortunately what you pay for with a lot of other Microsoft products (Windows Vista being no exception) is a product that is asserted as sold free of bugs yet is obviously not.
Regarding Ubuntu, its a great platform but I found you must have another computer running alongside during the installation to be able to source such basic problems as network connectivity. As a functional OS to take over from Windows for standard EWO tasks (Email, Web, Office) it is close but not as close as it needs to be for your average office worker to transition without a lot of problems and explaining needed. Mac still does it for me though, as indeed it has since around 1978.
"Hey, fuckwit, hear about Patrick Mercer?
Same old Tories, same old racists ... "
Oi, who are you calling fuckwit, fuckwit?
You Labour spastics try and use every negative news story you can to try and blacken the name of the Tory party. Why? Because you've got fuck all else to attack us with. No integrity, no morals, no policies and no record.
So piss off back to reading Tony Benns diaries and come back on here when you've grown a brain.
Isn't the great NHS IT system based on all this OpenSource (Unix) stuff? What a Dodo that's turned out to be! Doctor's can't use it during the day!!!
Nice analogy Guido - Microsoft and Labour make a pretty couple.
To explore it a little further - course the "Google Party" may look charming and modern, but will happily go along with the demands of authoritarians, and though it pretends to respect the individual - actually doesn't a give a fuck, frequently invades your privacy and engages in censorship.
But of course, our next Tory Government won't be anything like that.
Let's play spot the blogger from Nu Lab HQ. It's so easy now - like shooting fish in a barrel. The giveaway is normally the Anonymous tag, followed by the shrill howls and hoots of indignation.
Don't you think it's time you devoted your energies to cleaning up your own dirty, stinking, corrupt, sleazy house of cards?
And no I'm not a Tory - just an extremely angry taxpayer and voter, thoroughly pissed off with all bent and corrupt politicans.
Roll on the day the rotting cancer is finally excised from Downing Street.
I use both open source and microsoft, and I run a lot of serious high traffic websites. Horses for courses. To completely opt for one or another is pointless fanaticism.
Apache/Linux may be cheaper to run and is great for noddy websites, mail servers, dns servers and the like, but developing software is way slower than with MS.Net and .Net websites are way faster. Unarguably.
Richard Tomlinson's blog's been taken down again. Conspiracy!
Speaking as someone who uses OpenOffice 2.1 on Windows, I can only conclude that Priam [3:24] is merely used to the Microsoft product. I find OOo much easier than MS but there you go.
Speaking as a regular reader of this blog, I'm deeply concerned that I and others have chosen to indulge in this sort of semi-serious technodebate when we should be commenting on the TORY party arguing against big business!
IT procurement is one thing that's shocking. Even with open source software, you'd still need the consultants, project managers, business analysts and programmers and the likes of EDS, Accenture and CSC will still stitch up civil servants who couldn't draft a haiku, yet alone an IT service contract.
All these stories of 10 page websites for the Treasury costing £75,000 is horrifying, as is the £175,000 DTI website which I would have done for £5000 and made a tidy profit.
Anonymous said...
"why hasn't bliar"
It's spelt BLAIR. Oh, well, never mind!
Oh dear.
Windows Vista is almost 200% more expensive in the UK than in the US. That pays for a lot of leadership conferences with Gordon Brown.
Labour - happy to sell the people short and the country out.
Open Source Software is great. I run OpenOffice on my second office computer... My second computer, because it runs tooooo slowly for my everyday use. Headline "George Osbourne Pledges to Slow Down Government".
Well done George. Easy headline, and sensible in some situations, but not for everyone. The public wont trust the Tories, till the Tories start speaking openly and not after every cheap headline. Its not 1997 again.
EDS charge over 8k just for the documentation...!!!
Google IS Skynet
and at £2000 a day which the big consultancies charge for it, 175k is soon gone.
http://tinyurl.com/34t5b4
A radio five phone in today had Osborne as one of the campest men in Britain.
On reflection its difficult to argue.
People who are posting here about the difficulties of implementing Ubantu etc on a PC are completely missing the point - The overwhelming majority of PC users either have a system supplied or purchase one as a bundled package - not for them the many happy hours browsing the Dabs catalogue or selecting the best Linux version for their user profile, followed by much misery wrestling with drivers etc which most people dont know exist. I've myself been frustrated in trying to perform a feasibility study of Linux on my current kit; however I accept that this is completely irrelevant.
Vista is massively expensive and system builders could afford to invest much time and effort to cut out the cost of Microsoft software.
I note that Dell set up an online suggestions box and were told "give us Linux and OpenOffice, please!".
To anonymous (4.34) - What is your point?
The trend towards Open Source is a good thing. It doesn't have to be 100%, there's no reason to get religious about it, but adding Open Source to your mix can really help lower costs, as well as often cut down on bug fix time, as you have the source, so aren't so much of a prisoner of your vendor.
Glad to hear the Conservatives staying independent and not selling us down the river to Microsoft, as NL are so keen to do.
Anonymous 4:34
The NHS project is NOT being run using Open Source software and no Unix is also not Open source .....
Linux is but Unix isn't ...(with the possible exception of Open Solaris)
it'll probably save the taxpayer about 10 trillion a year, but that doesn't matter does it. My concern is that it may be a little difficult for the thicko public sector mob to use, since every detail of the operating system is not s.p.e.l.l.e.d o.u.t for them.
zzzzzzzzz
A number of companies, such as IBM, have put together an install of Linux + OpenOffice. If you have a large organisation (hint hint), the cost reductions can be substantial.
Oh, and for the mong up thread - UNIX != Linux.
There is Open Source on the desktop and there is Open Source on servers.
The Interweb thing mostly runs on Open Source on servers. As a teacher of mathematics (last refuge of a scoundrel) I would point to the Moodle learning environment as a totally superb example, except I don't need to because the Open University are pumping 5 million into it instead of wasting time producing their own system.
The desktop is harder. FE Colleges teach skills that people can use to get jobs. Business are (with exceptions) Micro$oft whores. We have to teach the kids Word &c.
If local authorities and the public sector generally went Open Source, that would create a demand for training... and we would jump
There is Open Source on the desktop and there is Open Source on servers.
The Interweb thing mostly runs on Open Source on servers. As a teacher of mathematics (last refuge of a scoundrel) I would point to the Moodle learning environment as a totally superb example, except I don't need to because the Open University are pumping 5 million into it instead of wasting time producing their own system.
The client is harder. FE Colleges teach skills that people can use to get jobs. Business are (with exceptions) Micro$oft whores. We have to teach the kids Word &c.
If local authorities and the public sector generally went Open Source, that would create a demand for training... and we would jump
Surely the only question this government will be asking about Open Source vs Microsoft will be...
...how well does the Delete button work?
since every detail of the operating system is not s.p.e.l.l.e.d o.u.t for them.
Dimwit...W Y Police operates on lInux and the Eu evaluated its system of hot-desking. Bristol Council runs on Linux.....the Army's Bowman system runs on Open Office.
SuSe has a nice stable OS which runs far better than MS Virus. You can even emulate the Windows desktop - and put on VM Ware and you can run Windows programs
You can buy Star Office at Staples for £24 with a complete replacement for MS Office.....it is the retail version of open Office which is FREE
The practices of large software consultancies in New Labour WILL be THE BIGGEST scandal in New Labour - it doesn't seem it now but Billions have been wasted on Microsoft technology.
As a software contractor with 20 years experience in investment banks I would only use Java - .NET just won't scale up.
I even heard a very ugly rumor about the NHS that the GP software was really only written for individual GPs on individual windows PCs - rather than rewrite the software to run on a server - they used bought tens of thousands of Microsoft licences to run virtual operating systems with one version of the GP software runnig on each one. The system will never scale up - to run that many virtual windows operating systems overheat the blade servers so much that they literally melt the racks they are running in - just in case you wondered why the NHS had no money.
Unix was developed in the 1960's by AT&T Bell Labs, and was originally designed to run their telephony network, and stands for Unified Network Integrated Xchange.
As time has gone on, new versions and sub versions have been developed, but all are based on the original Unix, such as SCo, Redhat, Linux, Suse etc.
So, in a way, you are both right, Linux is a type of Unix, but not pure Unix. UNIX is now owned by the Open Group.
Novell had acquired the Unix systems business of At&T/USL, and then transferred the rights to the UNIX trademark and the specification (that subsequently became the Single UNIX Specification) to The Open Group (at the time X/Open Company).
Hope this helps.
The great appeal of Microsoft Windows, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Access, etc. is the compatibility between the various software items and the confidence that you can easily transfer files to other users without any problems. Worth paying that little bit extra for to save all the frustration and wasted time when trying to interface with non-Microsoft users.
Yes, but big companies that need to make money to survive have competent employees, as oppossed to government led departments which will contiune to fuck up even if they have Microsoft 10,000 Interplanetary-Flash.
It isn't the kit, it's who is using it that counts.
Yes, but big companies have competent employees as opposed to government directed jobsworths that even Microsoft 10,000 Inter-Planetary Flash will never be able to help.
It is not the technology that ultimatley counts, it is whos is using it.
zzzzzzzz turn it off...wait 5 secs then turn it on again......it should work ....if not call me back..... ill be stood outside having a fag with a mobile on my belt.....
zzzzzzzz turn it off...wait 5 secs then turn it on again......it should work ....if not call me back..... ill be stood outside having a fag with a mobile on my belt.....
There's only so much geek-talk I can take before falling asleep. So I was delighted to find that Jonathan Cainer (cosmologist) says on his web site tonight that during the eclipse of the moon last Saturday, he went into a 'mystic trance', a brief 'visionary moment' during which he says that he saw: 'An enormous financial and political scandal coming to light over the next six months.'
How enormous? Do we have to wait until the last day of the six months? Anyway, Yay!
Linux may not technically be unix, but is very unix-like. I don't think there are many cases where you would need Unix, and Linux would not do the same job. There are also plenty of open source Unix kernels.
There are lots of servers that could easily run opensource software. Some of the *.gov.uk websites are already running linux and/or apache
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.direct.gov.uk
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=petitions.pm.gov.uk
(same for guido)
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph?site=www.order-order.com
Desktop issues, like it took me hours to set up wireless in Ubuntu, are far less of a problem if you are a techie setting up a thousand identical computers, and you have a support contract from Novel/IBM/Redhat/Sun/etc. (And on my computer all the hardware was detected automagically by ubuntu)
Plankton is right. Why on earth should finding Blair, Brown and their ilk total anathema automatically imply that one is a Tory? I loathe the buggers and I last voted Tory in 1979.
Incidentally, the only ordinary voters who have ever really voted for Tony Blair are a few folk in Sedgefield.
" IanP said...
and at £2000 a day which the big consultancies charge for it, 175k is soon gone."
That's only because the government is stupid enough and wasteful enough to pay those types of rates. The private sector has been much better at screwing down the inflated rates of the Consultancies. I worked as an IT contractor for a Central Government department, a couple of years ago (my only and hopefully last time inthe public sector). I worked through a consultancy (a lesser known one) and the dim-wits in the civil service, were still paying consultant rates to the consutlancy for me and many other contractors, with the consultancy getting at least as much again or even double what the contractor was getting paid off the fee! and all they did was advertise a vacancy on Jobserve and give me a 45 minute interview and set up a 12 month contract(not the usual 3 months!) The private sector never allow Consutlancies to employ contractors on Consultant rates it's fucking ridiculous!!
Oh! and it was on a project to fix what Accenture had screwed up, which was then moth-balled once Accenture had convinced them to handover another 20 million or so, after they had spent over 20 million on the project I was on. The level of waste is scandalous.
The Open Source idea is nice thought, but the reality would be a lot different. The Tories should spend more time talking about using the private sector as a way of benchmarking how IT projects should be financed.
Off topic:
Watching, 'The Great Global Warming Swindle'on Channel 4.It implies that anybody who believes wholesale in global warming is a bit of a nutjob.Well that explains most of the nutters in the House of Commons then.Disturbing watching.
It's obvious what Microsoft gains from their alliance with New Labour, but what does New Labour get in return?
Anon 3:54pm
"why hasn't bliar"
"It's spelt BLAIR. Oh, well, never mind!"
Oh the irony.......
Oh yes ! Question Time tonight has Margaret 'foot in mouth' Hodge and Piers 'Morgan' Moron !
Well, for 99.999% of 'IT-enlightened' civil servants (they know where the on/off switch is in other words) what is wrong with LINUX of any flavour and open office? 1, yes 1 IT gimp, when regularly flogged, can set up network installation of any Linux kernel, and install thousands of computers per day - note, WHEN REGULARLY BEATEN.
In Bavaria, where IT-gimp floggings are common, (like they used to do to witches before burning them), the regional government is on LINUX.
IT-monkey Gates objected strongly, but was powerless. The EU trade commissioner is having fun shafting the evil corporation at this moment. In comparison to British government anti-competition investigations (eg. supermarkets) the EU looks quite enlightened.
If the Tories are serious about this, Q-dos. (dos, gettit?).
Macles said:
If the Tories are serious about this, Q-dos. (dos, gettit?).
Not so sure about this as a piece of advice. The original QDOS, which was adapted (I think in a slightly backhand way) by Gates to make MS-DOS, was an acronym for 'Quick and Dirty Operating System'.
So this is big news is it Guido, don't think so.
It's obvious what Microsoft gains from their alliance with New Labour, but what does New Labour get in return?
They get free travel to Winnersh Triangle (home of MS UK), loads of flattery about how wise and clever they are and a linkup to a live video conference (no doubt done via Quicktime or Skype) with Bill Gates saying how much he appreciates their support.
All you need to give socialist scum is a modicum of flattery - they'll gladly sign over public funds for inept software to you after that.
"Nadine Dorrie's Toyboy said...
So this is big news is it Guido, don't think so."
And the point of that comment was...
How about you let the rest of us decide whether or not this is big news?
great crested grebe said>
Not so sure about this as a piece of advice. The original QDOS, which was adapted (I think in a slightly backhand way) by Gates to make MS-DOS, was an acronym for 'Quick and Dirty Operating System'.
Aaargghh! Read kudos for q-dos? I had always undestood Gates found an OS in a dustbin somewhere, and hawked it to IBM to get going - quick and dirty is an honest name. Regrettably, I'm typing on a windows box at the moment...
"They get free travel to Winnersh Triangle (home of MS UK)"
Not sure about a free trips to Bracknell being an incentive!
But this bunch of tossers love to be seen with big businessmen as they think it gives them credibility as a party that supports business and the productive side of the economy. Many in the business community would dissagree strongly with that.
Most of the public now have come to realise that if Labour are seen with a businessman it's because he has given them a donation and that Tony and Cherie will be buying another house very soon.
Hey, fuckwit, hear about Patrick Mercer?
Same old Tories, same old racists ...
Interesting. More than three black soldiers who served under Patrick Mercer have given interviews to national newspapers saying a) that what he said was true and b)that he is not a racist. So, um, why has he been sacked?
Bryan,
Linked.
This afternoon I am off down to the local sauna. After reading about homos and the like I feel in order to argue my case and comment with any authority that I have to engage in some arse sex with several gayers to find out exactly what all the fuss is about.
I'll keep you all up to snuff on how it all goes. Wish me luck!
Look, I don't give a fuck about Open Source even though I'm a software engineer.
What I do give a fuck about is Adriana Lukas - some pics of her she looks tasty, others she looks like a welder's bench. Guido, is she hot or not?
If she's hot get some pics up. If she's not, then let us know.
Any bird that wears leather jeans and likes an arse skelping is definitely up for it.
Hitch,
If it helps, nanny always told me that "'tis better to give than to receive."
Worked for the Government once. We used to use Macs, but were ordered to change to PCs. Result? - instead of taking delivery of new software, loading it and then getting on with the job, spent DAYS on the Windows versions trying to get them to work. A false saving if there ever was one.
As for Linux - well not bad, but with all the different versions of Linux around, there's plenty of scope for confusion. Mac was better - but they are Intel and UNIX now anyway. Stick with Windows 98 if you are a PC user who wants a quiet life!
Open source is a great concept, but if I was running a massive company or government department I would want an IT supplier with some accountability... not some disparate geek community.
sponge or stone..?
Can I just add to the NHS related comments on here by saying that when the procurement process was carried out by each of the NHS local service providers, the client (national programme for IT) made it very clear that Microsoft based systems were the preferred solution. There is pretty much no open source in use within the new NHS projects, it's all gone to Microsoft wherever possible.
I was at the session and I am neither government geek, nor Tory, nor New Media. I do have experience in large IT systems implementation and in use of PCs with all sorts of operating systems!
So, first about Osborne talk. He is young and belong to 'computer literate' generation but has no idea what makes IT Projects fail. So, I aplaud his desire for the move to Open Source, but it will not solve the problem of Large IT Systems delivery failures. His solution to get an academic procurement expert on board is only a first step.
SEcond on Osborne 'way of talking'. For the man who was preaching 'democratization' and 'social networks' he did not ask a single question and did not listen to anyone who proposed a different angle. Bryan Appleyard can tell you about high school type jabes h was exposed to because he suggested that more than just slogan of 'open source' is required for informed participation in online political debates.
Third, Osborne ws very keen on name dropping! And I bet it is highly selective. So, he went to Jeffrey Sacks lecture and travelled with him to Ghana. And he exchanged emails with Eric Smith of Google.
Finally, I should say that he used the old fashioned medium of printed notes to speak / read from and when needed to take notes had to borrow pen from a fellow panelist to write on them. Where was his Mac?
My round-up of this and other coverage here.
@Charcoal 5:18
"charcoal said...
I use both open source and microsoft, and I run a lot of serious high traffic websites. Horses for courses. To completely opt for one or another is pointless fanaticism.Apache/Linux may be cheaper to run and is great for noddy websites, mail servers, dns servers and the like, but developing software is way slower than with MS.Net and .Net websites are way faster. Unarguably."
Apache is a webserver. Linux is an operating system. MS .Net is an application framework. You seem to be trying to compare apples to hiking boots.
Apache/Linux would be equavalent to IIS/MS Windows.
MS .Net would be equavalent to the Java platform.
Are you sure you work in IT?
Praise the Lord and switch to Mac.
Microsoft is the devil's own machine code.
Wow, there's the Mac zealot in a nutshell; bumping into a discussion on open source and pushing their own propitiatory systen
There are circumstances where an SUV is best and others where a kit-car is more suitable. Anyone who says that SUVs or kit-cars are best for all circumstances doesn't know much about cars. What matters is that we try to make the best choice for the task, and that your choice does not affect my choice.
I hate the Microsoft monopoly. I am probably one of the few businessmen outside the IT industry to run linux on my laptop and at home. I encourage you all to use linux/OOo/Mozilla - it's nowhere near as difficult as some people say it is (if you want an example of a real dog of an OS, you should have tried 64-bit WinXP). But if you don't want to, that's fine. The market is about choice. All I ask is that my choice not be constrained. The way to deal with monopolies is not complex anti-trust cases with hopeless remedies that change nothing. The way to deal with it is to ensure barriers to entry are minimised.
There are a number of barriers to entry for competitors of Microsoft. But the biggest one is their ruthless exploitation of network effects. Everyone has to have Windows and Office because everyone else does. In particular, the dominance of Office file formats makes it difficult not to have Office on your computer, and if you have to have Office, you have to have an OS on which it runs.
It would be good for government and others to deploy linux more widely where it is appropriate. It would probably reduce costs, whatever the MS propaganda claims (e.g. "the Department of Health agency which manages the £6.2bn national programme for IT, said that none of its prime contractors were providing solutions based on Linux", so does the person who used the NHS as an example of why OpenSource is a bad idea now want to apply their same logic to Windows?). The benefits in terms of encouraging diversity and a native IT industry by justifying training (mentioned by another poster) might be worthwhile, though that's not really government's job.
But more important is that all government documents and other tax-funded media should be in open formats - the OpenDocument format is the obvious candidate instead of Office files (PDF is OK where it is appropriate). If open formats are used, we are not driven to any particular program or OS, and all software developers (including MS) have the option to incorporate support for the formats into their programs to the best of their abilities. Putting Word and Excel files on government web=sites is bad enough, but the one that really gets on my tits is tax-funded media like the BBC and Channel 4 using proprietary formats (WMA/V, Real, or - sorry Mac-users - Quicktime) for making their content available. There are perfectly practical open formats available that do the same job, and the excuses of claimed benefits in terms of quality vs compression are pure bullshit to anyone who knows about this sort of thing, and particularly when this is mostly being watched on computer screens with tinny speakers - who the hell is going to notice differences in quality even if they exist? Microsoft openly admit that they want to get their sticky, monopolistic mits on content, and the techno-ignoramuses in our media are letting them.
A similar point could be made about APIs and protocols, but this column is already geeky enough. Suffice to say that insisting on interfaces, protocols and formats being fully open and documented (in advance of release) is the real solution to Microsoft's monopoly position and pricing, rather than futile attempts to regulate or fine the company into submission, or silly threats to split-up the company and replace one monopoly with two, or refusing to use their products even where they are most suitable. That is what Osborne should be arguing, but at least he's thinking about it, and dangerously close to stumbling onto the truth.
Mind you, if the Government were running a secure OS, what would Yates of the Yard do for evidence? Maybe it's not such a bad thing.
Oh, and one other thing, don't fool yourself that Jobs or McNeally or Ellison or Page and Brin would be any better than Gates and Ballmer. Diversity in competition is the key.
osborne is dead right. the spin offs would be enormous. right now , all the benefits just go to the mega corp that is Microsoft, and its associated big name consultancy hangers on like EDS and Accenture.
As an indication of how much this monopoly is stifling innovation in the UK, just note that there isnt a single home grown British major Linux distribution. Germany, France, Scandinavia and of course the US are light years ahead of us.
" Anonymous said...
Isn't the great NHS IT system based on all this OpenSource (Unix) stuff? What a Dodo that's turned out to be! Doctor's can't use it during the day!!!
4:34 PM "
its not. its Microsoft based.
Microsoft NHS page
Microsoft £500 million licensing contract
Guido, I take umbrage... I was there and not public sector nor a geek.
French parliament is switching to Ubuntu
more info here
Could be that the next Windows becomes open-source. Germany stopped using Microsoft products because some elements were developed in Israel. UNIX is a LOT older than windows and you can run a WIMP enviroment over it pretty easily, but governments just never manage to get someone decent to develop said enviroment.
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