I posted this in general, because it is after reading about how much money is wasted from buying Microsoft software with tax payer money, that I just had to post it!

With the nation in hard economic times, and several states on the brink of bankruptcy, it is ludicrous for the government and states to be buying software from Microsoft and paying their outlandish license fees, when they could be using Linux for free and OSS! Schools also should use Linux and OSS, and all government run and state run businesses should also use Linux and OSS. Stop the brutality of the Microsoft monopoly!

The poll is a Yes or No if you agree or disagree. Write your congressman and senator and tell them to use Linux and OSS!

how long are you using linux now?

That kind of clashes with the logic of politics. As elections take place every few years, not many politicians have the guts to implement innovations that prove productive only in the longer run. They want/need to show something at the end of their term. And there is the real problem. In organizations of any size, one does not replace Microsoft just like that. Because of their hated vendor lock-in policy, Microsoft can rest assured that replacing even part of the infrastructure will involve a lot of inconvenience and investment. The main argument against MS is also their best guarantee of survival. You can say that they are stupid but they do know all too well what they are doing.

*sigh* This idea isn't new, you know.
I recommend you to try to do something yourself first. If you will be successful, you surely will become a good example, so attracting new people for your idea will become easier. So... what did you do "to stop brutality of the Microsoft monopoly"? Or how many governments have you converted to linux today?

3..4 months at most (probably 1..2 in reaility), I suppose, but there is 10% probability that I am wrong.

Both answers are incorrect. Correct answer would be "that depends on situation".

Talk about coming on strong. This is definitely fanboyish. I went through this type of thing a few months into my journey with Linux, too. But not nearly to this degree.

The reason schools, governments and corporations switch to Linux is because they think it will work for them. The tools Linux has may be important to the mission of the organization, or money may be a factor. I haven't actually heard any cases where an organization switches over just for the sake of "sticking it to the man."

Well if you look close the government has been using Sun Microsystems for years and that is a unix based system. Trust me none of there stuff that needs to be secured is on windows machines. Solarus is not free there is an open Solarus that is free. even though I voted yes that is becuse linux is much more secure ,if some one wants to build it that way.

Just keep in mind how much your country is already paying for security.

Handling critical/secret information with a proprietary system is plain stupid.

Just to add some oil to the fire: Windows for Warships


But look on the bright side. At least this safes the world from low ranking sailors editing /etc/nuke.conf or issuing `chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.missiledefense && /etc/rc.d/rc.missiledefense start`

'cuz before you know it, armageddon is just an apt-get away

Man I feel like this answer is going to come off like a troll but here goes anyway...

I think people should have a choice on what they want to use. If someone is efficient and productive using something they should be allowed to use it. If someone is efficient with Windows then who am I to force them to use something they are not efficient with. As to the cost, I think the cost of windows is trivial in a government scenario. Training costs money, time, productivity. There is a cost to every operating system introduced to an organization even if the OS is free. Desktops/servers are one thing however, when confidential information is stored on a laptop it is nice to say that all the laptops are standard and secured with <insert encryption program here> and anyone finding the laptop will not be able to access any data on it. Relying on Timmy to put on his own OS, encrypt all his data, stay updated, etc isn't going to fly. Timmy might be competent and Timmy might be an idiot, there are a million employees out there and some of them are bound to be an idiot and some are bound to loose their laptop.

Is Timmy the sysadmin from a nuclear power plant or is he using MS Office to write to write invitations for the local town ball?

Here in Belgium, there was a lot to do about public hospitals being the target for malicious crackers and virus writers.
Turns out that most of our public hospitals are still(partly) using Win98 systems (XP wasn't compatible with some of their expensive custom-build software).

Governments do have responsibilities here.

I have a bug up my ass about this question, particularly when it comes to schools. The amount of money that UK schools pour into Microsoft's coffers is quite simply ridiculous, but MS, due to the monopoly they achieved during the 1990's basically has all of our local government bodies mesmerized, they just blindly hand over the cash, cash which is short to begin with and could be so much better utilized elsewhere.

Our national curriculum has a subject it calls ICT, but might just as well be called Microsoft training for all that it mentions any software other than MS. Our kids could potentially go through 15 years of school and higher education never having heard of Linux at all.

I do my best to spread the word around, but it seems that its not just that people don't know, they don't want to know. When I ask school IT co-ordinators why they are not using Linux to save money, their eye's kind of glaze over and they mumble something about mumble..totalcostofownership..mumble..policy..mumble.mumble.... and suddenly discover a pressing need to be elsewhere.

Any organisation that hand over cash to MS and the like without seriously considering the open source alternatives is either ignorant or just plain stupid.

Sadly, that's true for most countries.
Today's kids only learn how to use a specific program and can't code at all.

I honestly don't care what OS they use, but todays IT education is a joke.

For those who think that budget doesn't matter, you're all wrong.
All Governmental businesses depend on a fixed budget.

IMO:
Not all people need to use computer or know how to use it.
Those people that really need to use computers normally can educate themselves.

Sure.
But that ain't the point (on the educational part).
These days nobody learns how to do something without relying on a popular (changes every ... year) IDE.

In my days we even used a pre-DOS-like system.
...but we did learn all the basics.

I think just may be you might want to learn what linux is all about those commands you did as root can only be done as root or the owner of the script. Windows exe.missiles let it say in the registry till the admin logs in and then Kaboom. Any way the NT OS and a Unix based systems have there administrators. but in linux you can even make it so the administrator or root has limited ability. This is the big reason for selinux. It was built for the the secure community and Here at college it is being built for many things for the. Lets just say for large firms and government systems that do secure there windows stuff.

I know people here At the U of I are using linux to VM there windows servers this allows them to use only 12 main servers when they used to have 45. the reason Here at the super computer College there are many custom built systems that need to be tested and Linux has the chore of getting these system to pass data for security building reasons.