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> Anything custom made for the gov MUST BE FOSS as money is from the people, so people MUST own it. I like and agree on this, but just out of curiosity is it m
by tnzk 5y ago
> Anything custom made for the gov MUST BE FOSS as money is from the people, so people MUST own it.
I like and agree on this, but just out of curiosity is it more reasonable to attribute the rights for the software to only taxpayers if the rationale is just about where the money come from?
- riedel 5y agoThis sounds good, however, the biggest problem is sustainability of FOSS if there are commercial alternatives. FOSS needs to be simply made competitive and agencies need to get their procurement processes straight. FOSS is already better and cheaper in the long run, but commercial companies will likely win most bids. FOSS is IMHO no value in itself, but it has value if used and supported by govs and it is just procurement that has gone all wrong. Edit: to explain the value thing: just look at all the crappy FOSS build by many H2020 funded projects(there are exceptions) You can waste money also for building FOSS. Particularly if companies building it see no value in maintaining it and nobody has incentives to jump in.
- majkinetor 5y agoVendor sustainability is questionable at best. I hear this most of the time, that those companies will be there in 20 years when the world turns upside down and you can always hunt them for fixes, support etc. In practice, however, at least in my country, it doesn't happen. Vendors of course gamed the system.