LinuxSA Mailing list archives

  From: George Patterson <george@laopdr.com>
  To  : Richard Russell <richard@yellowgoanna.com>
  Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2001 13:04:35 +0700

Re: Good news maybe ?? IT Minister

Richard,

Just a few notes...

Richard Russell wrote:
> 
> And I finally get around to a second draft...
> 
> ----
> 
> Dear Senator Alston (Minister for Information Technology and
> Telecommunications),
> 
> [can someone advise on the correct way of addressing? "Dear" sounds
> too cosy to me, but maybe it's correct]

I was going to sugesst the use the words "Mr Luddite" but I will refrain.  :)
> 

George snips a large chuck of text from here...

> 3) That Government software projects themselves are usually closed
> source. We believe that by encouraging the release of source code for
> Government-sponsored projects under an open licence, not only will the
> community benefit from the use of this code, but the Government will
> benefit from the community's use of this code. This applies
> specifically in cases where the code being developed can have some
> wider application, but even in cases where it won't, there is no
> disadvantage in releasing the code.
> 
> We request that the Government adopt a policy that all new (and
> preferably old) software projects undertaken by the Government have
> their code released to the community under an open licence (eg GPL or
> BSD). This is a situation where the collaboration between Government,
> community, and even other Governments would result in a win-win-win
> situation.

Perhaps say you should say Australian Federal and State Governments.. 

Otherwise you could be referring to some other governments (foriegn
perhaps??). 
> 
> Thankyou,
> 
> Sincerely....
> 
> [1] A brief introduction to Open Source and Free Software:
> 
> Open Source and Free Software have existed in various forms for about
> as long as software has existed. Much of the original internet was
> developed with Open Source software, and much of the present internet
> runs on it now.
> 
> The differentiating factor between Open and Closed software is the
> license. Closed software is usually released as a "shrinkwrapped"
> product, and the licensee is heavily restricted in how they can use
> it. For example, if the user finds a problem with the software, or
> finds that it requires some modifications to fit their purposes, they
> are prohibited from changing even their own copy of the software. In
> contrast, Open software allows the user free reign on how they use the
> software. In most cases, it comes with no fees, and with the explicit
> condition that if the user is to change the software in any way, they
> must contribute that change back to the community. In this way,
> software benefits from many many people's input, and any problems are
> usually found quickly, and the fixes made available almost
> immediately.
> 
> ----------
> more of my own comments...
> 
> I don't know if I actually fixed this up at all, or just modified it.
> People with comments, please feel free to make edits, and I can see if
> they make sense to me :)
> 
> It's still too long (IMHO), and too verbose, possibly too
> jargon-filled...
> 
> I left telstra etc out, as I think that's a topic for a separate
> letter.
> 
> Ditto for education.
> 
> Main thing missing is the EGs...
> 
> Thanks for criticism last time -- I ignored some of it...
> 
> Any more comments? Anyone want to re-write this in 1/2 a page?
> 
> rr
> 
> --
> Richard Russell
> Yellow Goanna Pty Ltd
> e: richard@yellowgoanna.com
> m: +61 412 827 805
> f: +61 8 8462 2362
> 
> --
> LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/  IRC: #linuxsa on irc.linux.org.au
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