Re: Proposed Letter Text to Decision-makers - Re-Draft

RE-DRAFT per comments from "Jan C. Depner" <[email protected]>

The following is a letter I'm drafting.  I propose that it be sent to
non-technical decision-makers in Government.  I would very much welcome
your views on how to improve/refine it.

DRAFT

I'm writing this letter to you to forecast a few things that relate to
software usage in Government:

2003 will be the year that Open Source software will start to make
increasing headway into Government.  The usability, stability and
explosion of top-notch, free(!) software is going to be looked at
seriously.

Here are some of the programs which are on the near horizon or
currently available:

Kroupware  - www.kroupware.org -

The Government of Germany has commissioned an open-source version of
Microsoft's Exchange Server called Kroupware.  It is designed to have
all the functionality of Microsoft's Exchange Server.  Version 1.0 is
in beta testing and should be completed soon.  This means that the
software that provides email, calendaring and contacts will be
available for download at no cost.

I understand that Microsoft Outlook Clients will be able to connect to
Kroupware as well open source clients and web browsers... This means
that the switch over will involve minimal impact on users.

Mozilla - www.mozilla.org -

The Mozilla web browser.  It has features that Microsoft's Internet
Explorer does not have, such as the ability to stop those annoying
pop-up windows.  You can also open multiple windows inside a single
browser window using the tab function.  Mozilla has a full featured
Mail, Chat and News client built in.  Mozilla runs on just about every
operating system including Windows and Linux.  It is FULLY standards
compliant (unlike Microsoft’s Internet Explorer).  For the casual user,
there is no learning curve - transition is simple and easy.  Try
downloading it and see for yourself.

OpenOffice - www.OpenOffice.org - 

Open Office ver 1.x is out.  It has very good compatibility opening and
saving Microsoft Word documents (it's not 100% perfect and doesn't do
Excel macros).  Most importantly, you can create documents directly in
HTML or XML which means that ANY web browser can open them.  OpenOffice
matches just about every feature of Microsoft Office except Access.  To
date, there is really no equivalent to Access although Sun Microsystems
sells a database with its version of OpenOffice called StarOffice -
www.sun.com -.  

Open Office is a good place to start looking at open source software. 
You can download and install it on your current machine at -
www.openoffice.org - and see for yourself - it runs on Windows as well
as Linux (the Mac version is in beta testing).  Don’t forget, you can
make copies and give them away too - legally!

MySQL - www.mysql.com -

Speaking of databases, MySQL is becoming seriously mature.  It is not
as industrial strength as Oracle, DB2 or SQLServer, but the new
features that are in version 4.x allow it to do many of the things the
big, expensive databases do.  I have even been able to connect Oracle
Forms to MySQL (for example) though an ODBC connection and it works
just fine.  Set up correctly and backed up properly, this screamingly
fast little database is becoming more and more valuable.  MySQL is not
a ‘front-end’ database like Microsoft Access.  It runs in the
background.  You connect to it and save or retrieve information from
it.

Linux - www.linux.org - 

2003 will bring Linux in from the server rooms and out to the desktop.
Redhat - www.redhat.com - and SuSE - www.suse.com - (to name a couple
of major vendors) have released versions 8.x of their software.  They
have combined most of the above software (and more) in windowing
environments that give you much of the functionality of Microsoft’s
Windows with complete control over every aspect of the software. 
Admitedly, Linux is still not quite as user-friendly as Windows, but
with the Kroupware Client, Mozilla and OpenOffice there is very little
you can do in Windows that you can't do in Linux. 

Most importantly, Linux is very stable and is completely configurable. 
Linux comes with a choice of  superior, journaling file systems (a
method of storing information on your hard drive(s) that is used in
main-frame computers - something Microsoft will not implement until
sometime in 2005).  

I have been using Linux servers for over two years now and have had
very few problems.  They just go and go... I use Linux on the desktop
at the office and my 75 year-old father uses it at home.  I am
constantly amazed at it's versatility and stability. [Insert your own
testimony here - ED.]

Apache - www.apache.org

Apache is a web server (like Microsoft's Internet Information Server
IIS) which actually rules the web.  It is being used to back-end more
than 60% of all web sites.  Combined with MySQL and the PHP
language, your web-site can inform, not to mention capture and dispense
data using completely open source software. 

Samba - www.samba.org -

Lastly, in the background of the network is Samba.  Version 3.0 is
coming out soon.  Samba is the glue that securely links computers and
users together in the office network.  Version 3.0 will have the
complete functionality of a Windows2000 Domain Controller.  In other
words, it will be able to handle all the user accounts, file serving,
printers and authentication that Windows2000 currently does.  This free
software is being developed and supported by IBM and eliminates the
need to purchase expensive Windows2000 Server licenses.  It runs on
Linux servers.  Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP and Linux clients connect
to it as though Samba were a Windows Server.

I'm using Samba version 2.x here in our offices and it has been running
smoothly for months without re-booting. [Insert your own testimony here
- ED.]

The thing about all of the above is that most people use computers to
create documents and send them to each other.  A few store or retrieve
data.  90% of people use 10% of most software's features.  My
question is, why spend vast sums of money on licensing software that
most people hardly use when free versions exist?

The answer is two-fold: the first aspect is familiarity.  The second is
the cost of change.  Making the jump will take education, time and
money, but once it's made, the returns will pay for themselves in short
order and improvements in ease-of-use and functionality will make
everyone wonder about what they used before...

Currently, governments such as Peru, Germany, France, England, the
State of California and the Federal Government in the U.S. have either
mandated or are looking to mandate the use of open source software. 
China has even created it's own Linux-based Open Source operating
system called Red Flag - www.redflag-linux.com.

Because there are no licensing restrictions, having open-source
software means you can legally tailor all of the above to suit your
specific needs and offer it for download or make copies and distribute
them to anyone.  Take for example, schools.  Teachers can legally give
copies to every student.  Less advantaged children would only need to
purchase a machine, not the software that comes with it.  

Note also that tailored versions of Linux will run on older hardware
that is a fraction of the cost of newer systems.  New versions of
Windows will not run on most older hardware.

Your constituents, customers and suppliers could all receive or
download copies on request.  Because the source code is available,
there is nothing 'hidden' about how the software works - meaning that
it is fully compliant with any freedom of information requests too. 

You might wonder how Open Source companies like RedHat and SuSE make
money.  They do it by providing support.  They also build tailor-made
solutions. RedHat, for example, makes an industrial strength version
specifically to optimally run Oracle.

I wrote this because I'm on a mission to inform Government of stable,
secure, free choices available out there. I hope to impress upon you
that choices are opening up.  There is an ability to make sound
business decisions which engender additional opportunities:  access to
information, free distribution, software re-design (for example) while
at the same time saving taxpayer's money.

There is one last factor:  think of all the programmers the world over.
 Imagine if some of their time was devoted to improving the above
'products'.  Well, that is already a reality.  People the world over
are contributing to this vast body of software.  It is constantly being
improved, updated and documented. This is the new software paradigm.  

I hope that my message today makes you to take a second look!

______________________________________________________________________ 
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