[NH LoCo] I'm writing an opinion piece for the Concord Monitor -- care to weigh in?

[Benjamin Scott]

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 7:06 PM, Susan Cragin <susancragin at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Title:  All NH taxpayer-supported computers and systems should run open-source software.

  You asked for opinions.  My opinion would be that *I* would prefer
that stated along the lines of "All NH government IT systems should
consider Open Source software a via option, to be evaluated in all
cases".  Or something like that but less cumbersome and more betterer.

  I'm a firm believer in using the best tool for the job.  Now, I also
happen to believe FOSS tools are often the best tool, for a variety of
reasons, but sometimes they're not.  I find dogma is rarely a useful
approach to anything.

> I need examples of municipalities, states, and so on, that
> have switched to open-source successfully, and what they use.

  I also find it's a lot easier to get your foot in the door if,
instead of positioning it as a "switch" (which tends to imply an
all-or-nothing, zero-sum-game mentality), you position it as
"adoption" or similar.  As an IT management weenie, one of the things
I like most about FOSS is how well it integrates with other systems.
There's no need to throw out all your existing systems when you start
using FOSS.  This is in contrast to many closed systems which require
just that.

  Be very careful of coming across as an extremest.  This has gotten
any number of FOSS advocates in trouble before.  With the NH state
government in particular.

  As for case studies, let others do your marketing for you.  Red Hat,
MySQL, et. al., have case studies about how their products solved
problems for government agencies.  Chances are they'd love to help
you.

-- Ben