[PLUG] The house bill, a possible problem...

Ken Barber mountainman at peak.org
Sat Aug 23 20:47:02 UTC 2003


On Saturday 23 August 2003 12:43, Michael C. Robinson wrote:

> The arguments for this bill need to address the job
> displacement issue. Why is open source better than closed, and
> don't argue savings.

You'll never get an open source bill passed in a Republican 
legislature without arguing savings.  It all has to do with 
something we call "spin."

Gripe all you want, but nothing in the political arena ever gets 
done without spin, and Barnhart and I both knew from the outset 
that the only way an open source bill would get any traction at 
all would be to "spin" it as a money-saving measure.

We on this list know all kinds of logical, sensible and rational 
reasons why Governments should use software that employs open 
standards, but none of those arguments work in the political 
arena.  To get an idea passed, you must frame it in a way that 
gets the attention of the people in power -- i.e., present it in 
a way that appeals to their ideology.

Since Republicans control the House this session, that meant 
selling the bill as a way to save the taxpayers money.  Had 
Democrats been in control we would have chosen a different spin.

> Nobody wants to be accused of destroying jobs.  

That's why we kept very, VERY quiet about this consequence of the 
bill.  I expected our opposition to figure it out and hammer us 
with it, but they are so blinded by their own FUD (M$-funded 
studies claiming that FOSS has a higher TCO) that they never even 
thought of it.

Call me evil if you want, but the unfortunate reality is that THIS 
is how politics works.

Ken
-- 
"The big innovation of [Windows] XP is that it has a back door 
that sucks out all your proprietary information and presents it 
to Microsoft to sell it back to you or any retailer.  That's the 
big innovation in XP - a back door.  By the way, it still runs 
all your favorite viruses."
          -- Scott McNealy, CEO of Sun Microsystems 






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