Re: Open Source Developer (Economics)

>
>
> * Purchasing Open Source software has been a problem. That is,
>   government and big business generally have a "send out an RFI,
>   evaluate bidders, buy it" procurement sequence. Saying "just go
>   get it" doesn't work. The good news is that state and country
>   legislatures (Oregon and Texas being the most recent--there is
>   an article about them by Doc Searls up on the Linux Journal web
>   site now) are starting to address this.
>

A friend of mine, Peter Gallagher, runs a small (profitable) government 
contracting company that specializes in open source. He's getting ready 
to turn "his software" into COTS (Commercial Off-The-Shelf) Software, 
thereby making it easier for government purchasers to buy. All he's 
really doing is taking some of the freely distributable software he uses 
-- like Apache, Python, MySQL, and Debian Linux -- on CDs and listing 
the CD set in the General Services Administration catalog for a buck or 
two.

This way, federal agencies will be able to "buy the software" and pay 
Peter's company, DevIS, to customize, install and maintain it. Peter has 
a lot of insight into the federal purchasing mindset. One of the 
projects his company maintains is the GSA's purchasing agent training 
database and its accompanying Web site.

There is no reason others couldn't do this.

- Robin