Original invitation to join the NZ Open Source email list
For those of you I haven't met, my name is Dave Lane and I am a proponent of
open source software in New Zealand (for those you of who have met me, you
probably already knew that). I am sending you this message because I
would like to invite you join me and my associates (listed below) in creating
a NZ open source lobby. The goal of the lobby is to make NZ an open source
friendly place and a level playing field for all IT vendors (both open
source and proprietary) on a legislative level. To do that we need to
provide credible information to the right government decision makers and a
convincing show of our numbers.
Two weeks ago, the NZ government released (see
www.e-government.govt.nz) its plan for implementing "e-government" across all
departments, making the Internet the prefered medium for disseminating
information and interacting with the public. It will also be used for
conducting business with government departments as per the UK e-Envoy
initiative (see
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/19340.html with some
references to the NZ Inland Revenue "Windows only" fiasco at bottom).
Although I have found no mention on the e-government site regarding vendors,
there is some indication (see
http://www.aardvark.co.nz/daily/2001/0427.shtml) that the world's dominant
proprietary software, online transaction, and soon, with their acquisition of
telecoms and ISPs worldwide, communications corporation is slated to take the
lead role in the development. I believe that this would be disasterous to
all of us for a number of reasons including reliability, cost, and security.
The most insidious reason, however, is the likely inclusion of services that
implement this corporation's proprietary standards (as it did in the UK),
excluding anyone attempting to integrate software with, or even access as an
end-user, the e-government system with any software it has not blessed.
For an e-government infrastructure to serve its constituency, namely us, it
must be built on open standards and be totally vendor neutral, i.e.
not beholden to a single vendor's products. The e-government strategy
document seems to support this argument (see
http://www.e-government.govt.nz/programme/egovt-strategy.html) when it states:
"Information and services will be integrated, packaged and presented to
minimise cost for both customers and departmental administration."
and (under "Supporting Activities"):
"Develop common data protocols, infrastructure and system standards which
will enable information and data to be shared and integrated horizontally and
vertically across agencies, reducing the multiple collection and processing
of the same data."
"Investigate impediments to information and service integration (legal,
administrative, social, personal) and develop strategies to remove or
overcome them."
"Identify whether, how, and where government's back office information and
communications technology (ICT) infrastructure can be rationalised and
integrated to support cost-effective, integrated service delivery. "
These priorities, stated in their own document, appear to me to support
open standards, and perhaps even the use of open source software (for its
cost effectiveness and minimal barriers for multi-vendor integration). At
the moment, it appears that the UK government has been swayed by these
arguments put forward by "rigorously vendor neutral" open source proponents
(see http://www.netproject.com)
and has changed position (see
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/19659.html). It also provides us with
a compelling and encouraging example!
I have created a mailing list, opensourcenz@egressive.co.nz, whose purpose is the following, based on your input:
- Solidify our common position on rigorously vendor neutral standards (communication, data, etc.) for the implementation of e-government.
- Determine our timeline.
- Compile a list of expertise we, within our group, can offer to assist the government in its planning.
- Compile a list of constructive suggestions regarding the advantages of open standards with examples from open source software (as implemented in other parts of the world) to legislators which help to advance our position.
- Identify the people in government to whom we should address our concerns, especially in the State Services Commission.
- Present a document with concrete examples intended to demonstrate why open standards, and in many cases, open source software provides the most reliable, integrated, secure, and cost-effective solution for e-government. It is, after all, what powers the Internet.
- Present a document which requests the development of a process for auditing the e-government design to insure that no incompatibilities or proprietary standards are introduced.
- Create a web-portal which provides a knowledge repository focusing on open standards, open source software and news related to those topics. I propose that the site be www.openz.org, and Egressive (my company) will host the site and provide the domain name. There will be room (as soon as possible) for all open source friendly businesses to maintain a link and contact information!
To join the mailing list, you need only send an empty email to
opensourcenz-subscribe@egressive.co.nz [ed. note: this list is now defunct - please use
opensource-subscribe@openz.org instead]
- messages to the group (and please
keep these brief and to the point) can be sent to
opensourcenz@egressive.co.nz [similiarly, this is now opensource@openz.org].
All messages are archived.
Let's keep NZ vendor neutral, open source friendly, and nuclear free!
Regards,
Dave Lane
Director, Egressive
Director, Egressive
Original supporters of the opensourcenz mailing list:
- Christine Moore - wordengineering Ltd. (Chch)
- Richard Waid - iOpen Technologies Ltd. (Chch)
- Brian Chatterton - iOpen Technologies Ltd. (Chch)
- Julian Carver - Seradigm Ltd. (Chch)
- Phil Driver - Technology Link Ltd. (Chch)
- Luke Pickering - Computer Consultant (Chch)
- Hayden Glass - Consultant/Journeyman (Auck/Wtgn)
- James Harrison - Partners in Performance (Chch)
