[nzlug] Christchurch firm cleanses Niue govt of open source

[Warren]

On 2007/05/2 12:01, "Nick Rout" <nick at rout.co.nz> wrote:

> 
> On Wed, May 2, 2007 11:54 am, Nick Rout wrote:
>> 
>> On Wed, May 2, 2007 9:46 am, Vik Olliver wrote:
>>> http://computerworld.co.nz/news.nsf/news/8695469406249B19CC2572CA00102D2D
>>> 
>>> There's a deeper story in there somewhere. Maybe involving a holiday
>>> villa in Niue? :)
>>> 
>>> Vik :v)
>> 
>> Digging into my fading memory, there used to be a guy on this list from
>> Niue, and he had installed a bit of linux/open software on the island.
>> There was even talk of a holiday cum linux conference on the island - a
>> group geek booking etc. This was before the hurricane that flattened it a
>> few years ago.
>> 
>> I cannot recall the guy's name, or when all this traffic was flying
>> passing by, but I certainly have those bells ringing.
>> 
>> Perhaps the guy left after the hurricane.
>> 
>> 
>> Nick, crawling back under his cone of alzheimers.

<gripe>

>From TFA: 

<quote>
He says various agencies have come in to the island offering open source
systems, implemented them and then left, leaving no one there to operate,
fix or update the systems.

³They were struggling even to find offshore support,² he says.

³A lot of agencies, including the UN, enjoy pushing open source, but in the
Pacific Microsoft is more supported and has an easier set of skills to
transfer.²
</quote>

This is, IMNSHO, because here in the pacific we don't tech technical skills.
We teach how to push buttons and to react.  I see this more and more the
people I encounter with all the pieces of paper - they know that can enter
details into a DNS system under Windows and things work.  But they don't
understand the technical underpinnings.  A halfway decent windows
administrator should be able - with a small amount of assistance - to become
able to administer a linux machine.  Perhaps not with the greatest of
skills, but should still be able to manage it.

What's really made my blood boil is the tone of the article.  "Cleansing"???

Perhaps MS software in this instance was the better choice - but surely this
boils down essentially to this line from the article:

"Government IT staff have already been trained in the use of Microsoft web
and software development tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio, which were
donated by Microsoft New Zealand."

If IT staff were trained in the Technology (i.e. Internet protocols,
application software, how the web works, etc) then they could have become
much more effective as they would then essentially be vendor agnostic.

If the IT staff were trained in Linux, rather than Microsoft tools, perhaps
the article would have a totally different spin?  (Niue government saves
citizens millions in licensing costs)

The last two paragraphs really are telling the story - rather than the spin
chosen throughout the rest of the article.

</gripe>

On a side note - I was looking forward to a conference in Niue .... :-)

Cheers.