Consider Free Software

The State of Connecticut is looking for ways to save money. It could improve results, get better performance, strengthen the public sector, and save a considerable amount of money by moving to free software:

It seems excessive that Connecticut let a 23 million dollar contract for DMV software in the first place, but that the product didn't work and was allowed to grind along for months with substantial public inconvenience, and to top it all off is now contracting with Microsoft to evaluate the problem. So how much additional taxpayer expense can we expect ?

I don't work on it, but DMV software must keep track of automobiles, issue licenses, produce tax bills and reporting of various types, none of which is ground-breaking. Many of the components of such a system are available off the shelf: databases, reporting software, and other infrastructure. It is no longer necessary to build from scratch because development today can be mostly about assembling proven components.

Here's the thing. Every other State has implemented the same functionality. Taxpayer funded software from other States may be in the public domain available for the asking. It may be too late for Connecticut to change strategy, but it would seem to me to make sense to first examine work done in other States before building anew. One of the first questions to ask would be how much of this taxpayer funded software is in the public domain already ? It should be possible to pick and choose among best solutions before even starting custom work.

There is a lesson here about privatization. When contracting out taxpayer funded software, a condition of the contract should be that the result be freely available in the public domain. Setting standards is most always beneficial. States should be able to exchange applications and cooperatively resolve problems.

The code  should be publicly accessible and auditable unless there is a compelling reason to withhold portions of it.

The results would be higher quality, more reliable, and far less expensive software.

Voting machines should be, if not free, at least open source, so that there are no hidden features. There is a history of problems with proprietary voting machines that should disturb any citizen. voting_machines.htm

Public schools should use public (free) softare. Students or others can see the source code, modify it, improve it,take it home, give it away. and learn how it works. Hands-on effort is usually the best way to learn. Free software in schools. (See Sugarlabs, Planet Sugarlabs, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)...could replace the need for textbooks. Free textbooks require no paper, no cost, and weigh nothing.)
There would be additional savings by going to open source textbooks. For example: http://www.opentextbook.org/ With low price laptops, paper textbooks would no longer be necessary. The marginal cost of such textbooks, like free software, can be close to zero, upgrading simpler, and is probably much more environmentally friendly.

Software in doctor's offices and hospitals has been heavily subsidized by the Federal government, but, unfortunately funding was not accompanied by any constraints. There are seemingly no standards (at least locally) for doctor's or hospitals. Fax machines are still used for offices to exchange data which is not only slow, inefficient, and obsolete, but requires redundant data entry. Huge amounts of taxpayer dollars are wasted in this way. Expect this result from unconstrained proprietary software. There is more money if follow-on work becomes necessary.

Taxpayer funded software belongs in the public domain. That would benefit not just States, but also towns, offices, schools, universities, hospitals, medical records, or any other entity.

Free software (FS), GNU/Linux, is faster, more transparent, freely modifiable, more standards compliant, peer-reviewed, auditable (particularly important for voting machines), more secure, and less expensive than proprietary software. The Linux operating system and GNU projects have demonstrated the incredible power of crowd sourced development.

Unlike proprietary software, open programs can be combined to build even better ones.

Software is a lot like math, so it should be an integral part of the math and science curriculum. Students can take FS home, share it, install it, study how it works, modify it, and make it better. It's not just for back office applications.

http://youtu.be/nKIu9yen5nc

There are 1000's of applications including for office, graphics, audio, communications, database, video, games, etc. Some are listed at http://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Main_Page but browse other directories like Sourceforge or Github for even more.

Free software is usually accompanied by free documentation for example: http://flossmanuals.net/

Download Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/ ) and see. It is free, and easy to install on a reasonably late model computer. For trial, it can even run, albeit more slowly, without installing. Upgrades are polite. There is very little advertising. Support is available.

No doubt overcoming political resistance to free and open source software will be difficult, but potential savings are enormous. Added up, State and local governments could save substantial taxpayer dollars...and actually improve results. (See my rough notes at free_software.htm)

Please let me know if there any questions.

http://www.code.org/

http://www.fsf.org/about/

http://www.gnu.org/

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