[Osia-discuss] Re: [Linux-aus] ATO - Software Compatibility

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, Nov 18, 2005 at 01:18:45PM +1100, Jens Porup wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 18, 2005 at 11:30:20AM +1100, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> > On Thu, Nov 17, 2005 at 11:03:43PM +1030, David Lloyd wrote:
> > 
> > > > When asked...
> > > > "Do you believe that the Australian Taxation Office's Windows-Only
> > > > policy is a roadblock to the adoption of open source in Australia?" 
> > > > 72% of respondents to OSIA's industry survey said Yes.
> > > 
> > > Yeah, and any competent statistician would be able throw that statistic
> > > out the window. That's beside the point.
> > 
> > ??? 
> > 
> > Are you suggesting that 72% of respondents *didn't* say Yes?
> 
> When you're standing in a field of apple trees, 100% of the available
> fruit are apples.

When you're standing in a field of apple trees, you should survey the 
inside of shoe boxes a thousand miles away to find out what fruit is 
available to you here and now?

Here and now, the ATO's Windows-only policy is a roadblock to the adoption
of FOSS in Australia, according to 72% of the Australian industry
association most closely associated with the adoption of FOSS in
Australia.

Who should we have surveyed? Baghdad dentists? The cleaning staff at
Microsoft's Redmond headquarters?

I'm not saying that the OSIA stats are the be all and end all for this
question. It would be good to hear some other people's opinions as well.  
The answer, I guess, would depend on the size of the organisation being
surveyed. (A one PC small business might find it a major problem, a
100,000 PC corporation might not.) But to imply that they are useless,
pointless, and good for only throwing out the window is just wrong.



-- 
Steven D'Aprano 
Operations Manager 
Cybersource Pty Ltd, ABN 13 053 904 082 
Level 4, 10-16 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000 
Tel: +61 3 9621 2377   Fax: +61 3 9621 2477 
Web: http://www.cybersource.com.au