On 12/8/06, Ian Dexter R. Marquez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 12/8/06, Dean Michael Berris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Vendors/solutions should be chosen *first* by meeting
> specifications/requirements, then among the qualified candidates
> choose the most cost-effective solution.
That's what the different stages of government procurement are
actually implementing: there's a pre-qualification stage, where only
those that meet the specifications can qualify to bid.
Then there's something wrong with the people who put out the RFP's.
> This I think is where we have a fundamental disagreement: I would like
> OpenOffice to choose a default because it's alright for the authors of
> OpenOffice to choose a default for me -- but I have a problem with
> government choosing a default BY LAW for every government agency on
> blanket policy.
>
That's the government's prerogative! It doesn't dictate how private
institutions should decide on their software procurement.
Prerogative to put in place A LAW which is in favor of FOSS for ALL
GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS? If this isn't giving undue advantage and bias for
FOSS, then I don't know what is.
> I am saying, there should be no default, and the choice be made on a
> case to case basis.
>
You'd be promoting the status quo, then.
Call it what you want -- I don't see anything wrong with the current
system as far as using software in government is concerned. I have a
problem with the way they put out RFP's or the actual specification
process for projects to be bid out for third party contractors, and I
feel that that needs to be fixed: and that the FOSS bill is needless.
The bill, in effect, defines
guidelines and policies for government's software procurement. When
you do it on a "case-to-case" basis, agencies, as they are wont to do,
will just go for the default, which at this time is proprietary
software.
Then changing the default doesn't require a LAW! It just takes an
executive order, or a re-education of the CICT, and perhaps a few
cases filed by the ombudsman against discriminatory and anti-trust
practices (if we even have provisions for that) being employed by the
government.
Let FOSS get into government on its own merit, not because it was
enacted as LAW.
--
Dean Michael C. Berris
http://cplusplus-soup.blogspot.com/
mikhailberis AT gmail DOT com
+63 928 7291459
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