> > Costs a lot to whom?
> > To the goverment? I'm under a strict NDA due to my formal employement in
> > the ministry of finance, but I can assure you that the goverment pays WAY
> > LOWER then any commercial company in Israel. Maybe the army got the same
> > terms, don't know, but MS software costs are very cheaply to the
> > goverment.
>
> I know that. But even this "very cheaply" costs plenty of money (if I
> remember correctly, the Knesset discussion specified 5 million dollars,
> plus 4 million for the army) for Microsoft software alone, that could be
> spent in a different manner. Even if $3 million of that $5 million is
> still spent on commercial software, you could do wonders with that extra
> $2 million - such as hiring 20 top-notch programmers (for $100,000 a year)
> for writing open-source software for the government, or giving 200
> people (!) a 50,000 shekel grant to work on open-source software of their
> preference.
And who will write/develop this software? did you see IBM or Sun lobbying the
Knesset for funding to write open source software? I didn't.
> Another cost which is hard to enumerate, but still exists, is the huge
> cost of the commercial software to the Israeli economy (or the parts of
> it that don't illegally copy commercial software). If a person feels that
> he cannot switch his OS because his tax-return forms need Microsoft-Word
> to be filled, and is thus forced to spend several hundred dollars on
> Microsoft Word, all this money is just lost to the Israeli economy.
Agreed.
> > > 2. M.K. Eitan kept coming back to the fact that only Microsoft
> > > products can read Microsoft formats with 100% compatibility (that's
> > > debatable too, but never mind). SO WHAT? The Knesset has an obligation
> > > to reach everyone, not only the majority (even if 95%) using Microsoft
> > > software. This is a MAJOR democratic issue.
> >
> > M.K. Eitan is clearly preffers MS on the client side. As much as I
> > understand from people on the goverment - all of them preffer MS on the
> > client side. Linux on the server side is being used in many areas (cannot
> > specify where - NDA).
>
> Who cares what he prefers on the client side????
> The government must give its services to everyone, not just people who
> share their software preferences with M.K. Eitan. Everyone can install an
> HTML viewer or (say) a PDF viewer on their computer (assuming it is
> relatively modern, not a Commodore 64, sorry). But not everyone can install
> a Powerpoint viewer. Some can't do it because their OS (Linux, Mac, etc.)
> doesn't have it (or can't show the right version, or the Hebrew). Some
> can't do it simply because they can't afford it!
>
> By the way, Eitan seems to disagree with me on this point, and thinks that
> if 95% of the people can see a site, it's enough. How do I know that?
> Because he also says (read the transcript) it is ok if sites are
> Hebrew-only without Arabic (even though the Yoetz-Hamishpati Lamemshala
> declared otherwise). Why? Because "most" Arabic-speakers also know Hebrew.
Problem is that any goverment web site is done by a different group of web
designers. After all - it's a bid, and my guess is that the lowest price
wins, so a 17 years old doesn't give a fuck if Konqueror or Mozilla doesn't
show it well. As long as it looks ok on his explorer 6 - thats fine with him
and the goverment.
> > One of the most heard things that I have heard from quite a lot of people
> > in the goverment is very simple - there is no support for Linux in Israel
> > when it comes to 24/7 support.
>
> Are you kidding me? If M.K. Eitan came to you with a job offer to do Linux
> support for him, wouldn't you take that job? There are plenty of unemployed
> people, and even if none of them are Linux people (one can dream, can't
> he?) it's not that difficult to teach the starter of that bunch Linux and
> let them become Linux support people. So it's a chicken-and-egg problem:
> there are no Linux support people because very few people need them, so it
> doesn't sound like a smart career "investment" to learn Linux
> administration.
As I wrote earlier - the goverment looking for a big company to give 24/7
support - just like they get when a Windows 2000 advanced server crash or if
a power supply goes bye-bye. Why do you think Compaq (formerly Digital) is
the winner for the last 4-6 years of goverment contracts? they don't look to
hire Mr. Hetz Ben Hamo of Mr. Nadav Harel to support them.
Also, if you read the bid terms for supporting contracts - you'll need to
deposit some guarantees ("arvooyot") which are something in the couple of
million dollars area. You got that money?
> Anyway, there are also Solaris, Digital Unix, and similar support people.
> I don't see how hard it would be for them to switch to becoming Linux
> people.
It's not. which brings me to my next email.
Hetz
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