New Zealand government gets set for open source

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DAVE KEARNS ON NOVELL NETWARE TIPS
10/25/05
Today's focus: New Zealand government gets set for open source

Dear security.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Kiwi Green Party applauds NZ government's move to open source
* Links related to Novell NetWare Tips
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: New Zealand government gets set for open source

By Dave Kearns

I'm rarely impressed by information in press releases. I use
press releases because sometimes there's a nugget of useful
information among with all the fluff. For example, one that
crossed my desk this week begins:

" [Major U.S. company] announced today that it is advancing its
position as a biometrics solutions provider by enhancing its
portfolio of identity management products. The comprehensive
Identity Management portfolio broadens [the company]'s
commitment to help governments evolve to next generation
ePassports and National ID cards to help deliver safer travel
worldwide."

Next week, the company will tackle curing cancer.

But occasionally there is a press release that makes me pause
and think. Another one that crossed my desk this week was like
that. Even better, it was about Novell - but it wasn't from
Novell!

The press release
<http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0510/S00123.htm> extensively
quoted New Zealand Green Party IT spokesperson Metiria Turei.
Well, it was released by the Green Party. But who would expect
that a political party, especially one concerned mostly with
ecology, would have an IT spokesperson?

In fact, Turei was commenting on the software ecology and a
recent agreement between Novell and the New Zealand government
to adopt and expand the government's use of non-proprietary,
open-source software. Displaying a very good working knowledge
of the open-source movement, Turei's quoted as saying: "Clearly
much will be made of the money that can be saved by moving away
from inflexible licensing requirements, but, IMHO, the most
important part of this deal is the opportunity for agencies to
embrace the increased reliability, security and flexibility of
open source. In turn, the economy of scale and credibility
provided by the government choosing open source should go some
way to increasing its use in New Zealand generally, which in
turn will start to roll back the virus-vulnerable Microsoft
monoculture on Kiwi desktops."

(An aside: Do you suppose she actually said "IMHO" and if she
did, did she say the phrase "In my humble opinion" or spell it
out the letters? I very much believe that no one actually says
the words attributed to them in press releases!)

In fact, this is very good news for Novell as was the recent
announcement that the State of Massachusetts would only use
software applications conforming to the Open Document standard
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9273> for file formats
(Microsoft Office doesn't conform).

While neither of these announcements directly sells any NetWare,
GroupWise or ZENworks licenses - and, in fact, could be seen as
limiting their future sales - anything that helps Novell's
bottom line can only be good news for those who use the
company's networking and productivity products. So it really is
good news. There is one downside, though. The New Zealand
government agency that Novell signed the deal with is Inland
Revenue. Do we really cheer when the tax collector chooses more
secure, more reliable software and operating systems?

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Cisco talking IP-radio nets
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9572>
2. School traps infected PCs in its web
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9573>
3. Cartoon of the Week
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9574>
4. Juniper gains corporate network ground
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9575>
5. Cisco finally brings security push to LAN
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnovell9063>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Dave Kearns

Dave Kearns is a writer and consultant in Silicon Valley. He's
written a number of books including the (sadly) now out of print
"Peter Norton's Complete Guide to Networks." His musings can be
found at Virtual Quill <http://www.vquill.com/>.

Kearns is the author of three Network World Newsletters: Windows
Networking Tips, Novell NetWare Tips, and Identity Management.
Comments about these newsletters should be sent to him at these

respective addresses: <mailto:windows@vquill.com>,
<mailto:netware@vquill.com>, <mailto:identity@vquill.com>.

Kearns provides content services to network vendors: books,
manuals, white papers, lectures and seminars, marketing,
technical marketing and support documents. Virtual Quill
provides "words to sell by..." Find out more by e-mail at
<mailto:info@vquill.com>
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