Thursday, February 9th, 2006, 6:38 am
Open Source Politics
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T can be rather amusing — if not frustrating — to see what diplomats and legislators know about technology. In an article from yesterday afternoon, Stephen Shankland describes the perils one has when it comes to educating politicians while evangelising Open Source.
Mike Evans, vice president of corporate development for top Linux seller Red Hat, traveled to California’s capitol to educate legislators in the state Senate about open-source software, but he ended up getting something of an education himself.
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For example, several seemed to believe that if an administrator uses open-source software that anyone can peer into the inner workings of his or her computer system.
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When Evans told the Senate’s information technology personnel he’d be brining his own Linux box to show his presentation, Evans recounted, “They said, ‘What is a Linux box?’”
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And the Web site that offered streaming audio of the hearing only presents Windows Media audio files.
