My perception of the problem as an IT specialist and a state employee is that there is no centralization. Each Department (i.e. ODOT, HRS, DAS, etc.) calls their own shots as far as desktop and server OS's, equipment, etc. Only certain systems are centralized for the entire state, and yes Shaun, most of those DO run open source OS. Most big shops run MS desktop at least because it's easier to train users on (most of them have Windows based systems in their home), and for the most part, it's easier to find trained personnel, and also to train personnel to support it. Most of the server based stuff will be a mixture of OS's. For instance at DAS, we are mostly windows based supporting a citrix environment, however we have a couple of large Sun boxes and a Linux server or two. The bottom line is that until all IT is centralized as least as far as management and command and control, it's going to be very difficult to set any standards for OS's and equipment and put them in place. Dion Baird -----Original Message----- From: T. Kenji Sugahara [mailto:sugahara@private] Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 12:31 AM To: Shaun Savage Cc: CRIME Subject: Re: CRIME Computers vulnerable at Oregon department Shaun, Open Source is great but how about support? There are legions of MS trained support people but how about Linux/UNIX trained folks? Which brings about another question of Open Source - Uniformity. What do you think the repercussions are of the kind of mods that you can make in an open source environment? Most everything can be modified - and will be. It tends to require a different perspective than out of the box solutions. I wonder what IT support is like in that environment? In addition, how will software developers react to Open Source and Open Standards? Will service contracts work as a business model for SW developers? It is sort-of a throwback to the old IBM model of sell the HW for under cost and then make em pay for the maintenance. On Tuesday, September 24, 2002, at 03:25 PM, Shaun Savage wrote: > T. Kenji Sugahara wrote: >> What's needed is buy-in from the Governor on down. (e.g. a >> fundamental shift in thinking). >> Each agency head needs to understand the costs and benefits of >> security. They need to be advised of the cost of computer >> insecurity. > > Open of the problems in goverment is that they are not open to new > ideas, even if the ideas better server the people of the state. The > concept of open source is totally unheard of in goverment. As such > they, the big cheeses, don't want to get near it. To me open source > is the best concept for goverment. Pay for software once, > development, then the people could use it forever. If a program is > put into the public domain then that adds to the commen welfare of > everyone. > > I have read that the goverment should support business. The question > here is are the people more important or companies. people vote but > companies donate(bribe) more money. > > I would donate my patented database GUI system to the projects the > state would create for it self using open source licenese. This would > reduce maintaince and development cost, increase security, while > improving the common good for the average person in the state. > > Shaun Savage > > > > >
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