Edmonton considers divorcing Microsoft
July 19, 2009 |
By Stefan Dubowski
“I told Microsoft I’m giving them their divorce papers,” says City of Edmonton CIO Chris Moore. The municipality’s IT department is considering walking away from Microsoft Corp. applications and investing in open source instead. It’s just one step in a major IT transformation, the CIO explains. The municipality has decided that proprietary software is too expensive, and out of step with the direction it wants to take in IT. “It’s not that we don’t like Microsoft,” Moore says. “It has a bit to do with the economics. We spend a ridiculous amount of money just to use the software. It’s more
about our desire to provide leadership in openness and collaboration in systems and sharing.” The move to open source is one part of the transformation, which stems from a desire to see Edmonton’s IT department draw on home-grown talent, Moore says. More.
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The last sentence is key: The move to open source is one part of the transformation, which stems from a desire to see Edmonton’s IT department draw on home-grown talent.
This precisely what I've been saying. If government in Manitoba were to adopt open source software before other provinces do so, we stand a chance to be seen as the leaders in the expertise of implementation, customization and support, which could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts from outside of Manitoba as other jurisdictions and businesses follow suit.
No, the world isn't suddenly going to dump proprietary software overnight. But there will be gains made. Around the world, for the same reasons cited in the article above, governments and businesses have been dumping Microsoft software (mostly MS) in favour of open source software.
If Manitoba is a centre of excellence for cancer research, virology research, aerospace and agriculture, with the coordinated vision of the business, educational and governmental communities, we could also be major players in open source consulting.
With such a new hi-tech, high-paying industry, many young people will choose to stay and work here. Students from around the world will want to come here to study and intern with Manitoba companies who will be able to scoop up the best and brightest. People who are already experts will move here to take advantage of the synergies from existing, growing companies. We already are a fantastic place to live, compared to other places in the world. We can have a better future for ourselves by planning to take advantage of what is an undeniable trend - the global adoption of open source software. The richest potential market for open source software may very well be North America as other parts of the world are feel less beholden to proprietary software and their sometimes convoluted licensing requirements.
22 January, 2009 - "President Barack Obama is a smart guy. Where others zig, he zags. It's perhaps not surprising, then, that he's been asking around about the benefits of open source, according to Sun Chairman Scott McNealy, who has been asked by President Obama to author a white paper on the benefits the U.S. government can derive from open source." Obama wants to know: Why open source?
Open source software is not a panacea. But, it is worth looking into as a new industry for Manitoba. It may never displace proprietary software as the software of choice, but open source is well on its way to being a growing, multi-billion dollar industry. And we can be among the leaders in North America. Or we can sit back and let it pass us by.
July 19, 2009 |
By Stefan Dubowski
“I told Microsoft I’m giving them their divorce papers,” says City of Edmonton CIO Chris Moore. The municipality’s IT department is considering walking away from Microsoft Corp. applications and investing in open source instead. It’s just one step in a major IT transformation, the CIO explains. The municipality has decided that proprietary software is too expensive, and out of step with the direction it wants to take in IT. “It’s not that we don’t like Microsoft,” Moore says. “It has a bit to do with the economics. We spend a ridiculous amount of money just to use the software. It’s more
about our desire to provide leadership in openness and collaboration in systems and sharing.” The move to open source is one part of the transformation, which stems from a desire to see Edmonton’s IT department draw on home-grown talent, Moore says. More.
------------------
The last sentence is key: The move to open source is one part of the transformation, which stems from a desire to see Edmonton’s IT department draw on home-grown talent.
This precisely what I've been saying. If government in Manitoba were to adopt open source software before other provinces do so, we stand a chance to be seen as the leaders in the expertise of implementation, customization and support, which could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts from outside of Manitoba as other jurisdictions and businesses follow suit.
No, the world isn't suddenly going to dump proprietary software overnight. But there will be gains made. Around the world, for the same reasons cited in the article above, governments and businesses have been dumping Microsoft software (mostly MS) in favour of open source software.
If Manitoba is a centre of excellence for cancer research, virology research, aerospace and agriculture, with the coordinated vision of the business, educational and governmental communities, we could also be major players in open source consulting.
With such a new hi-tech, high-paying industry, many young people will choose to stay and work here. Students from around the world will want to come here to study and intern with Manitoba companies who will be able to scoop up the best and brightest. People who are already experts will move here to take advantage of the synergies from existing, growing companies. We already are a fantastic place to live, compared to other places in the world. We can have a better future for ourselves by planning to take advantage of what is an undeniable trend - the global adoption of open source software. The richest potential market for open source software may very well be North America as other parts of the world are feel less beholden to proprietary software and their sometimes convoluted licensing requirements.
22 January, 2009 - "President Barack Obama is a smart guy. Where others zig, he zags. It's perhaps not surprising, then, that he's been asking around about the benefits of open source, according to Sun Chairman Scott McNealy, who has been asked by President Obama to author a white paper on the benefits the U.S. government can derive from open source." Obama wants to know: Why open source?
Open source software is not a panacea. But, it is worth looking into as a new industry for Manitoba. It may never displace proprietary software as the software of choice, but open source is well on its way to being a growing, multi-billion dollar industry. And we can be among the leaders in North America. Or we can sit back and let it pass us by.
