don christie

August 31, 2009 By Shiny 3 comments

Open source movers and shakers in Wellington

the goings on in Wellington, that i've heard of recently:

Tim McNarama is rallying a Sahana New Zealand cluster. Their online presence is at Launchpad.net. They've had hackfest and strategic planning meetings - there's been lots of great designs including distributed models (borrowing from laconca) and New Zealand customisations.

Don Christie, and the New Zealand Open Source Society have launched the Public Sector Remix, a desktop operating system specialising in government / public sector.

Tabitha Roder continues to lead a group of OLPC testers who meet every Saturday at the Southern Cross.

Nigel McNie, and the rest of the mahara team released 1.2.0beta1.

Who have i missed out? Who's doing Open Source mighty deeds in Wellington?

April 29, 2009 By Shiny

Press release from NZOSS on G2009 Negotiations with Microsoft

Press release from NZOSS on G2009 Negotiations with Microsoft | The New Zealand Open Source Society

New Zealand Open Source Society is calling for far greater use of free software in the New Zealand public sector. The renewed call comes at a time when central government agencies have been conducting line-by-line reviews of their expenditure and the UK government has released sweeping policy change...

“The crucial insight from the UK policy is that cost of ownership is not the issue; what matters is value delivered.” says NZOSS president Don Christie “With free software that value can be delivered across multiple agencies through re-use.”

The Electoral Enrolment Centre has been using free software their desktops, happily, for the last seven years. A rollout of free software, such as ubuntu linux, on new desktop/laptops would be a sensible decision. In times while we're laying off public servants due to cost cuts, why pay uber dollars for software that gives less flexibility.
Government (and education) is the right place for the more altruistic aspect of free software - build it once and reuse it through multiple departments without need for further investment. (not to mention the control you get from having the source and the rights to change it/hire someone to make it exactly as you need).