Re: [Fsfe-uk] Why FS is a Good Thing

[Ramin Nakisa]

On Thursday 14 March 2002 21:28, Imran wrote:
> Point 12 "The Government should consider using OSS as the default
> exploitation route for UK Government funded software." of the Summary of
> conclusions of the QinetiQ report.
>
> (http://www.govtalk.gov.uk/documents/QinetiQ_OSS_rep.pdf)

My ideas are both brilliant and original.  Unfortunately the ones that are 
brilliant aren't original and the ones that are original aren't brilliant.  

Thanks Imran, I'd forgotten about that document.  I've just re-read bits of 
it, and it seems very reasonable.  We should use it as a reference.  In the 
Future Trends section (page vi) they say: 

 Within  the developed  world, we  as yet  see no  sign that  OSS will
 become a viable alternative  to Microsoft Windows, for users (general
 purpose)   desktop   machines   in   the   corporate   or   home   PC
 markets. However,  OSS on the desktop  may soon become  a significant
 player on the desktop in  the developing world. For these reasons the
 study recommends against  any preference for OSS on  the desktop, but
 also recommends that this issue be  reassessed by the end of 2002, by
 which time early trials of the use of OSS desktops may have generated
 sufficient evidence to warrant a reassessment.

 OSS is  already suited to restricted functionality  desktops, such as
 those  used  in  industry  for  point-of-sales  and  point-of-service
 terminals; and  in these areas OSS  s market share is  likely to grow
 significantly.

 We  expect  OSS to  rapidly  become  the  market leader  in  consumer
 computing devices.

I'm surprised that they don't think that OSS on the desktop will become a 
"viable alternative" to Windows.  We should be able to contest this with a 
few demos.