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

[Michael C. Robinson]

Where are all the Microsoft techies going to go?  Employed people are
constituents, especially in a flat economy.  Linux works so well that
it could reduce the number of jobs needed at a time when already there
aren't enough jobs in the high tech sector.  There's no training budget
right now to teach Microsoft techs Linux.  Face it, most of the cuts
have been to education.  I think there is broad support for the bill.
Unfortunately, goliath is so large that toppling him now will cause a 
lot of damage.  What is needed is a school funding bill, and the taxes
needed to be lowered back to normal.  The only way to create revenue
is to create jobs.  Maybe Linux needs to grow more while Microsoft is
still big stuff.  A transition is needed before a major change.
This was as true with Jefferson's difficulties releasing his slaves as
it is today.

The arguments for this bill need to address the job displacement issue. 
Why is open source better than closed, and don't argue savings.
Why shouldn't the legislature favor competition between multiple closed
source companies instead?  Nobody wants to be accused of destroying
jobs.  The education cuts have been bad enough, the health care cuts
we've seen are even worse.  The state is responsible for some people
dying because of the budget problems and cuts to health care.

     --  Michael C. Robinson