Re: [Fsfe-uk] microsoft-dependent free software

[Graham Seaman]

On Fri, 2005-04-01 at 11:08 +0100, Paul Tansom wrote:
> On Fri, 2005-04-01 at 00:43 +0100, Robin Green wrote:
> > On Thu, Mar 31, 2005 at 11:03:24PM +0100, Graham Seaman wrote:
> > > 
> > > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/31/ms_kingston_epayments/
> > > 
>  What they are doing is encouraging local government to
> lock itself even tighter into a single vendor setup with proprietary
> software. This means that it is an even bigger piece of work to change -
> both since all the 'shared' software is dependent on the Microsoft
> infrastructure this will have to be extensively rewritten in order to
> facilitate any migration away from Microsoft.

Looks like it may have been too dodgy even for the government to swallow
- Shepway District Council (together with Kent Uni) put up a proposal
for another open source repository, but this time both free (unlike
LASC) and without dependencies on proprietary software (unlike Newham's
MS-based one):

http://www.shepway.gov.uk/council-government
+democracy/councils/modernisation/collaborative/unique.asp

And the ODPM has just agreed to a set of 'open source' proposals:  

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/04/uk_government_backs_open_source_drive/

which since they are to be co-ordinated by Shepway DC presumably
includes the repository...

Graham