The new copyright law.

[Brent]

Tek Ang wrote:
>
>
> With a lot of discussion about the high cost and cost cutting to 
> school budget, I am sure that if Linux community can come up with an 
> alternative solution to the expensive cost of purchasing and 
> maintaining the computer systems that are compatible to Microsoft 
> Windows, the government will listen.
>
That has not been my experience with government and Linux. Last year an 
article on Computers For Schools appeared in the local press (Edmonton) 
so I contacted them to see what their position was regarding operating 
systems. Computers For Schools recycles business and private hardware 
for use in schools with limited budgets for Hardware purchases.

At that time Microsoft had worked out a deal that allowed the 
organization to piggyback licencing on the existing school board bulk 
licenses. However that was to end this spring and the CFS would then 
have to pay out for licenses on each and every refurbished machine 
distributed to the schools. CFS estimated that the move would cost them 
20 million dollars in licencing for the OS and productivity sutie. The 
director said he was aware of Ubuntu and Kbuntu and that he had 
considered it but that the schools preferred MS.  However the small 
samples of schools that I contacted said they didn't care what OS the 
machines had just so long as the machines were usable. The two school 
boards did not comment on the OS question but public budget figures 
indicate further miillions were being spent on licenses from MS. 

Next I contacted the appropriate minister of our provincial government 
to see how much the province was spending on licening and the number 
came back at over eighty million, annually! The reply from the minister 
however was non committal, full of assurances that they would "leverage" 
FOSS wherever possible. I took that to mean they would threaten to go 
open source if MS didn't cut them a break. That was the end of the 
comments,  to me anyway, on the subject as further inquiries were not 
answered.

A conservative and not scientific estimate, from me, shows that about 
100 million could be saved, each and every year, but instead all I get 
to read about is the provincial deficit standing at a billion dollars 
for last year and a projected deficit of four and ahalf billion for this 
fiscal year.

You'd think with this kind of money at stake there would me a mass 
migration to FOSS buy most publ;ic bodies.

Brent