[TriLUG] Fwd: Sign this Petition - Explain why taxpayers pay out billions to Microsoft and get nothing in return, while Linux is free!

[Brandon Van Every]

I'll try explaining it.  The gov't. already does lots of open source, more
than any private industry is doing.
http://opensource.com/government/12/5/history-open-source-government  Some
parts of gov't. either didn't get the memo or have justifiable reasons for
doing what they're doing.

Maybe you could redraft your petition to pick on a specific agency, with
supporting evidence that it's paying M$ lots of money.  I'm having trouble
agreeing with your petition in general because (1) TCO is an issue for
various problem domains, and TCO analyses are usually not trivial, (20 the
gov't. is already mostly doing the right thing.


Cheers,
Brandon


On Fri, Apr 26, 2013 at 11:59 PM, Jeremy Davis <jeremyhwllc at gmail.com>wrote:

> Dear friends,
>
> I wanted to let you know about a new petition I created on We the People,
> a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add
> your
> name to mine?  If this petition gets 100,000 signatures by May 26, 2013,
> the
> White House will review it and respond!
>
> We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama
> Administration to take action on a range of issues.  If a petition gets
> enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.
>
> You can view and sign the petition here:
>
> http://wh.gov/tdGA
>
> Here's some more information about this petition:
>
> Explain why taxpayers pay out billions to Microsoft and get
> nothing in return, while Linux is free.
>
> Explain why taxpayers pay out billions to Microsoft and get nothing in
> return, while Linux is free. In contrast, using tax dollars to pay for
> research and improvements to Linux, as well as free open source software in
> general, would benefit everyone. When taxpayers pay for roads everyone
> benefits because everyone can drive on them. This is not the case with
> proprietary software,such as Microsoft, because taxpayers cannot use the
> software that is paid for by tax dollars. However, it would benefit the
> taxpaying public if open source software, such as Linux, were used for
> everyday government computing. Any tax dollars spent on research for
> patches,
> upgrades, and improvements would be shared benefits for all Americans who
> can
> simply download and use Linux anytime for free.
> --
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