[Talk] RELEASE: OSIA SUGGESTS SOME DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR THE BILL GATES - JOHN HOWARD MEETING

[Con Zymaris]

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OSIA SUGGESTS SOME DISCUSSION TOPICS FOR THE BILL GATES - JOHN HOWARD
MEETING


AUSTRALIA, JUNE 11th, 2004.

OSIA, Australia's Open Source industry body, notes with interest the
recent announcement that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates will be having
discussions with the Prime Minister. While we are happy that the Prime
Minister is sending the message to the community that the ICT industry is
increasingly important to the government, we have the following topics,
which we hope can be raised in the discussions between the Prime Minister
and Mr. Gates during their forthcoming meeting.

TOPIC 1: INVESTMENT IN AUSTRALIA

Microsoft extracts hundreds of millions of dollars from the Australian
economy annually, and yet it undertakes negligible Research & Development
(R & D) here. This is in marked contrast to ICT vendors such as IBM, SGI,
Red Hat, HP among others, which have been investing money in hiring
Australian software developers and technologists to construct future
versions of Linux and other open source products.

Question to Mr. Gates: Why should the Australian government continue to
purchase software from Microsoft, when that firm treats this country as a
mere shop-front for sales revenue, rather than a quality resource which
can contribute considerable Intellectual Property through local software
engineering effort?

TOPIC 2: BROAD SUPPORT OF OPEN STANDARDS

The Australian government has recently released an excellent 'Guide to ICT
Sourcing'. This document raises the serious issue of the high costs
associated with migrating away from specific products, due to various
vendor lockin strategies such as non-standards compliance. At present, the
two most serious examples which affect the government are the Windows API
and Microsoft Office document formats. By contrast, Linux is already
compliant with the major operating system industry standard, POSIX, and
OpenOffice.org is already compliant with the OASIS XML-based document
format open standard.

Question to Mr. Gates: When will Microsoft formally open, document and
unencumber the Windows API and Microsoft Office file-formats as open
standards?  Alternatively, when will Microsoft adopt a full and supported
implementation of POSIX as the core of its Windows product, and migrate
Microsoft Office to the open OASIS XML-based standard?

TOPIC 3; BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE WITH OPEN SOURCE

While the claimed aims of the "Unlimited Potential" program mentioned by
Mr. Gates is to "provide people with access to computer technology,
education and training irrespective of age or circumstances", the program
uses and promotes software that many Australian simply can't afford. As a
contrast, in an effort to tackle a lack of access to technology,
Extramadura, known for being the poorest region in Spain, has boosted its
economy through distribution of free Linux CD to it's citizens.  
Extramadura has recently achieved a ratio of 1 computer per two students
in schools, which is far better than the same ratio in Australia, and is
starting to see a blooming IT economy where none existed. They have
achieved this because they save millions on Microsoft software licence
costs.
                                                                                
Question to Mr Howard: To help bridge the digital divide, wouldn't it be
better if the Australian government promoted freely available, open source
IT solutions, which are equally accessible to all Australians,
irrespective of income, age and circumstances?
       
TOPIC 4: EQUAL TIME FOR OPEN SOURCE 

We can assume that Mr. Gates will be presenting to the Prime Minister
Microsoft's future vision for the ICT industry. As a matter of equity and
fairness, it would be appropriate for the open source industry to also put
forward its own vision for the future of ICT; a vision of open platforms,
greater consumer rights and digital freedoms, strong competition and a far
greater opportunity for Australian ICT software technology vendors to
participate in the local and global marketplace.

- - -

About Open Source Industry Australia

OSIA is the industry body for Open Source within Australia. We exist to
further the cause of Free and Open Source software (FOSS) in Australia and
to help our members to improve their business success in this growing
sector of the global Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
market.

http://www.osia.net.au/

Spokesperson/Contact: Con Zymaris
Phone: 03 9621 2377
Fax: 03 9621 2477
Email: media at osia.net.au

(END)

-- 
_____________________________________________________________________________
Con Zymaris <conz at cyber.com.au> Level 4, 10 Queen St, Melbourne, Australia 
Cybersource: Australia's Leading Linux and Open Source Solutions Company 
Web: http://www.cyber.com.au/  Phone: 03 9621 2377   Fax: 03 9621 2477