[Linux-aus] New Federal Govt's Education/PC plans

[Anthony Towns]

On Mon, Dec 03, 2007 at 03:41:14PM +0900, Senectus . wrote:
> On 03/12/2007, Marco Ostini <m.ostini at uq.edu.au> wrote:
> > Get the ISO and burn it onto a disc and send it, or better yet, deliver it
> > in person to your local member. (Especially if their now in Government)
> > With the Disc include a letter explaining what FOSS is, [...]

> We (the industry in general not Lin-Aus) spend a lot of time and
> energy telling people that there are all sorts of dodgy/illegal/scammy
> people out there that will offer and promise you all sorts of things
> that you should not believe because if it seems too good to be true
> then it probably is.

Yeah, actually running the software isn't a terribly great idea for
whoever you send it to (waht if they get a version of thunderbird
that cc's all the mails they send/receive to journalists or another
party?), but including a CD at least sets the letter apart from the
other correspondence they'll be getting now.

Including a personal story about how you've been involved in making some
of the software on the CD, or how you've used it yourself locally would
probably be helpful. Inviting some sort of followup -- like getting your
MP to your local LUG could be plausible too. Asking for help setting
up community programs (like LUG members teaching school students how
to use/develop Unix and open source software, or helping small business
people with their Linux problems, eg) could work too.

> Not to mention the fact that a Gov network is more than likely going
> to have some pretty stringent rules and policies on installing rouge
> software on their machines...

Free software isn't rogue software, and hey, Labor and the Greens are all
commies anyway, so rouge software ought to go down a treat ;)

Anyway, there's already a pretty good policy on open source in Australian
government: http://www.agimo.gov.au/infrastructure/oss

Cheers,
aj

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