On Fri, Jul 07, 2000 at 12:58:05PM +0100, Malcolm wrote:
the Open Source for Education (OSE) website and conference have been set up run by Becta as a tool for investigating the potential of Open Source and Linux in schools in the UK.
Originally the proposal was to hold a largish conference in Birmingham in July, but it was felt by senior management that this might be inappropriate given Becta's independent role. Also concerns were expressed by leading education IT companies (you can guess) that it was not within Becta's remit to promote an Operating System over any other (sic).
Your senior management are wrong to let commercial interests lean on them. You are obviously not `promoting' you're quite rightly `investigating' the use of open source software as is your remit. As a government organisation your primary duty is to the taxpayer and not to commercial organisations who sell software produced by an illegal monopoly. Obviously, these companies have got something to fear if they're trying to stop you fulfil your remit. Which is (to quote from the Becta web-pages): `Becta's role is to advise policy makers and users in schools and colleges on how to purchase and implement this infrastructure in the most effective manner and, where appropriate, to test and certify particular systems so that they meet minimum standards. Becta evaluates emerging technologies and also advises the educational IT industry to encourage a strong, competitive market of choices available to educational users.' By rolling over you are not `evaluating emerging technologies', you are not in a position to sensibly `advise[s] the educational IT industry' and you are not encouraging `a strong, competitive market of choices available to educational users'. As a taxpayer, I want my money back. Who's in charge at Becta? I want to write to them and flame them to a crisp. -- Frank Shute *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* | Boroughbridge | Tel: 01423 323019 | PGP keyID: 0xC0B341A3 | *-------*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-----*-------* http://www.esperance.demon.co.uk/