Re: [vox] [Fwd] Warning CPR provisions for OpenSource under attack

["Mark K. Kim" <lugod@cbreak.oMAPSrg>]

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004, Bill Kendrick wrote:
[snip]
> Other than Mark (who sounds like he'll be at UC Davis on the 27th... for the
> CPR hearing???),
[snip]

Sorry, but I can't be there... 6+ hour drive...  But everyone who is able
please go -- that goes for all the other LUGs and OSS advocates in the
area, too.

BTW, before going to the meeting I prepared a statement I was going to
read to the commission members during the public comment time.  Here's a
copy that I never got to read.  It should fit into the 3 minute slot.
Feel free to modify/add to/remove from it:

  Thank you for having me here today.

  My name is Mark Kim.  I am currently a graduate student at University of
  Southern California studying computer science.  Before that I was a
  software developer in the Bay Area, and before that was a computer
  engineering student at UC Davis.

  I am here now as a California citizen to show my support of
  recommendation SO10 of the CPR Report titled, "Explore Open Source
  Alternatives.''

  In this recommendation, the state is asked to consider purchasing
  computer programs other than the ones expensively purchased from
  computer vendors.  Computer programs like Windows, Office, Photoshop,
  and many others have Free alternatives that are often adequate enough
  for the needs of many functions, and sometimes even exceed in quality
  when compared to many of these expensively purchased programs.

  Alternative to Windows, such as FreeBSD and Linux, are proven,
  industry-tested programs that are used as a mission-critical part of
  major industry players like Google, Tivo, IBM, Yahoo, E-Trade, Apple,
  Linksys, and many others.

  An alternative to Microsoft Office, such as OpenOffice, is part of a
  normal business day at Verizon and backed by Sun Microsystems, and it's
  in use in many public schools and even in some government entities such
  as the City of Austin, Texas.

  An alternative to Photoshop, such as the GIMP, while not as fully
  featured as Photoshop, is used by many amateur digital artists.  It even
  has certain features such as scripting that are simply not available in
  Photoshop, that makes it appealing even for those who may already have
  Photoshop.

  These are only a small sample of the many free programs that are
  available out there today, many of which are solid foundations that make
  up this Internet and run the majority of our Universities and corporate
  environments.  We use free software everyday, when we run web searches
  through Google, when we write e-mails through Yahoo, when we click
  through the channels on our Tivos.  It's time to bring much of these
  time-tested and proven programs into our State, where they will serve us
  well.

  I'm not saying we should use free software everywhere.  However I
  *am* saying we should use them where appropriate, and we should open up
  our state to this possibility by considering free software when we need
  to purchase new software.  It never hurts to consider *free* software.
  That's what recommendation SO10 says, that we should explore such
  programs for use.  And it never hurts to explore possibilities.

  As a side remark, I would like to point out that, while these free
  programs may be free to us, they were not freely created.  They were
  created by various universities with our tax dollars and volunteers from
  the computer industry with their precious time.  Many of these
  universities and computer industry volunteers, by no chance, are from
  this very state.  The aforementioned free programs FreeBSD and GIMP
  originally came from UC Berkeley, and OpenOffice is heavily funded by
  Sun Microsystems located in Silicon Valley.  These are professional-
  level programs with high quality and low cost, and they're from
  this very state.  Our tax dollars paid for it through university grants,
  and the companies in our State worked very hard to make them great
  --- so, let's use them.  These are *our* programs; let's use them.
  Let's use California-grown programs.

I'm not sure if I would've actually said that last part but I thought I
threw it in my draft for some laughs.  I figured it wouldn't hurt to get
some memorable attention with a joke.

I tried to leave out much of the computer lingos and concepts since 3
minutes is too short of a time to discuss more than one new idea.  So you
won't see me say "open source" anywhere or even "software".  I used words
the commission would understand, like "Free" and "programs."  I tried to
throw in a lot of names they'd recognize, like Google, IBM, Tivo and
E-Trade.  I would've thrown in some other names except I don't know off
the top of my head who uses OSS or not for sure.

If I had extra time, I would've mentioned how too much of our money goes
to Washinton State (Microsoft headquarters) and using OSS and hiring local
services would bring the money that state spends back into California.
But I felt that's more of a side issue that's better left to economic
analysists than myself, and didn't want to open that door in my 3 minute
time.

Thanks everyone! =)

-Mark

-- 
Mark K. Kim
AIM: markus kimius
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