Selling Open Source on the Campaign Trail 422
Waldo Jaquith writes: "I'm a long-time advocate and user of open source and free software and, as of this morning, I am a candidate for the Charlottesville, VA (USA) City Council. Naturally, I see lots of areas in Charlottesville's IT infrastructure (as well as potential areas of expansion) where Linux and various free software projects would be ideal. But can I make that a talking point while campaigning? How do I make that concept accessible and interesting to 40,000 citizens?"
You don't (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:You don't (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd be suprised if anyone asked about it. Why not include it in the "saving the city money" part of the platform. When asked about how you propose to save the city money, rattle off a few ways (I assume you have some!), and include the Open Source stuff in there. But I agree with the poster above, don't make it a major talking point.
Re:You don't (Score:2)
True, maybe I should have clarified my post--if you *must* make a political angle out of open source for the general populace, the "save money" route is probably the easiest to sell and understand.
But true, the overall savings may or maynot be anything to write home about.
Easy (Score:3, Funny)
Say the words "hard earn tax dollars"
and be prepared to be called a dirty red commie.
Re:Easy (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Oh, and be prepared to call these shareholders dirty red commies as well.
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Re:Easy (Score:2)
Politician dude, sell Open Source on it's cost. Make a plan. Stick to it. Consider talking about security. Tell the masses they really don't want Joe Hacker cozying up to their harddrives like a dog eating shit. Don't try to scare them though. Linux using X is incredibly easy to use. Good luck!
Re:Easy (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed. I personally believe that the cost of re-education will be lower than the amount saved by switching to free software. However, you'd better be prepared to back that up with a good plan and some hard figures. Such might include outlining a gradual, planned transition from applications with the highest cost-saving potential.
Re:Easy (Score:4, Insightful)
That is very unlikely since the chances are that the city already has bought much of its software.
I think the guy has no clue as to the relevance of open software to a town council or the amount of influence a junior councilor is likely to have.
The division of responsibilities between city and state vary. Even so it is unlikely that a town of 40K would have more than 200 odd administrators. sure they may have a lot of police, teachers etc, but people in that type of job are unlikely to use very much software and that they do use is likely to be chosen for compatibility with county, state or federal systems.
The running of the executive office is typically the responsibility of the mayor or an appointed chief executive. Either way that individual is not going to allow you to dictate their IT policy. If that person says that the cost is $1000 per employee to retrain them or that the open software option does not meet their needs it will be near impossible to persuade the rest of the council to override them, and if they did their motive is unlikely to be commitment to open source.
More likely however is that the decision on which software to buy is made on an individual basis. If a secretary knows how to use word they get her a copy of word.
However, you'd better be prepared to back that up with a good plan and some hard figures.
A good place to start would be finding out how much the town spends each year on software and how much of that is on applications that have open source alternatives.
The overwhelming probability is that most of the spending dollars on software go on low volume niche type software that would only be relevant to councils. Public sector accounting packages, pupil progress monitoring packages, police evidence management systems, court clerk management systems. The council that size might buy a hundred copies of Office a year for $40K but an accounting package might easily cost $100K plus the same again for installation, customization etc.
While 40K might seem a lot to you it is not a major item in a city budget. If the only plank in your platform is that you can save the city 40K you should probably be directed to the suggestions box rather than the council chamber.
The guy appears to share the somewhat arrogant assumption of many voters that the state is granting people a great favor by allowing them to work for considerably less than the going rate in industry. The choice of software has the greatest effect on the employees work environment. Why should some open source monomaniac decide that they have to use something different because their current software offends his religion?
If open source has any validity it is about choice, not compulsion. The cost of software is irrelevant compared to the cost of employing the person who uses it.
If you actually want to save the council money a much better approach is to look into opportunities to cut costs by outsourcing IT functions. Most companies outsource their payroll because it is cheaper to let ADT work out all the fiddly tax laws than have someone build that experience in house. Many companies outsource management of their email systems, it is cheaper for a company like USA.net to have 50 admins working 24x365 managing 500 companies email than it is for any of those companies to have a half time admin during business hours only.
The problem for small enterprises (city governments being typical) is that they are simply too small to realise the savings of scale that large companies can.
The cost of software is really not where the pain is. The Total Cost of Ownership and Return On Investment are the metrics used.
Re:Easy (Score:2, Interesting)
OK people, here is an example of your computer running Windows98. To use it, you turn it on by pressing this button.
Now here is an example of your computer running Linux. To use it, you turn it on by pressing this button.
Why do people think it is so much harder to use Linux than Windows? Granted, they would have a hard time loading Slackware 2 from twenty diskettes, ("Shit, I forgot which is the boot disk, and whick is the root disk.") but get real. Professional computer experts will load and configure the computer, install programs, network everything, and leave it ready for the user. The user just has to point and click.
And ever see a user try to load Windows on a computer. Most of them are lost immediately. Which is to be expected, because it is not what they are familiar with. Give me a map and compass, drop me into the Amazon Rainforest, and I will be lost immediately too. But that Crocodile Hunter guy on TV would figure out where he is, and start walking. Might take him a week, but he would find his way out, while I would still be trying to reboot the compass.
Steve Irwin vs. Linux (Score:5, Funny)
Crikey! If you look ovah here, you can see a primo example of the dread Linux Hacker. 'e's a dangerous brute, but ain't 'e bayutiful?!
I can get this close to 'im because I respect 'is terrortree. You're a notty hacker! Yes you are! He's a dangerous wonk, alright, but I'm okay because I'm a trained profeshun'al.
Let's all remember the the Linux Hacker is an endangud species. Paoching and biggah predatas like the fanged Microsoft encroach on 'is terrortree more and more each yeah. If we want to keep these bayutiful creatuhs around, we gotta protect 'em!
It's a different kind of accessibility... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's a different kind of accessibility... (Score:2)
Re:It's a different kind of accessibility... (Score:4, Insightful)
There are two important selling points:
1) It saves the taxpayers money which can be directed to better serve the community instead of a remote software vendor.
2) Because the software is open, anyone can examine it to "check on" the government's IT operations. This may be a minor point, but it falls under the heading of "openness and accountability".
An additional point, if you want to make it, is that the government is not vulnerable to security weaknesses that have plagued Microsoft software, of late.
Re:It's a different kind of accessibility... (Score:2)
They will do this anyway.
Open source software is already in place, presumably because it is the best tool for the job, used by people who don't need hand-holding, or expensive "retraining". That speaks for itself.
Of course, if it is not the best tool for the job (secretary's desks, etc.) it should not be there. Not yet, anyway.
Re:It's a different kind of accessibility... (Score:5, Interesting)
Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:5, Insightful)
You want to be on the council.
The voters don't want to pay as much tax.
You want to use something that's free for IT purposes.
Tell the voters that using free software would reduce costs!
The voters will automatically imply that your action of reducing costs will lead to lowered taxes and BAM!! you're elected.
Good luck!
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't forget to mention in passing that the open source free software has been built up over many years in the world's leading universites and government institutions and it's high time that our governments took advantage of its investment in these quality resources. Otherwise, most voters will confuse free software with free beer ware and the crap they've downloaded for "free" off the internet that gave them a virus and nags them constantly to send money to a purported author.
But OSS is but one very small part of the total equation of running and getting elected to local government.
The big thing is, indeed, "show me the money". First, taxes. Second, visible services, like how many hours you stand in line at the Motor Vehicle Department to get a new drivers license.
What impresses voters are politicians that fix potholes, pass ordinances against noise, are in favor of police, firefighters and teachers.
Other measures are more controversial and if you want to get elected you'd best steer clear of divisive issues (such as zoning of a megastore) where 90% of the people are on one side of the issue and 90% of the money is on the other side of the issue. You can take care of those according to your conscience once you've made it into office.
Great line (Score:3, Insightful)
That's speech material right there. Has a beautiful ring to it.
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:2)
<offtopic>
FWIW, when that issue popped up here in Las Vegas, most of the ordinary people were in favor of the megastores coming to town. It was a crack-addict county commissioner and the grocery-store union thugs who bought her that initially rammed a ban through the county commission. It took a petition, signed by tens of thousands, to get the ban lifted.
Erin Kenny's still a crackhead, though. :-P
</offtopic>
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't think that taxes are really the focus of a city that size... I'd push that the money could be used to fix the big pothole on Second Street, to build a new park or add a new wing onto the local high school's science building or whatever. Offer them something tangible, which will not only make them happier but improve the overall value of the city.
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:3, Funny)
I'm no grammar NAZI or anything, but occasionally I come across usage guides in my dictionary, and one that I've come across all the time is that you should never mix up "imply" and "infer". This seemed strange to me, since I'd never heard anyone use them 'wrong'. It seemed as weird to have that in a usage guide than, say, "Don't confuse "fly" with "throw" or something. You're the first one I've actually heard use the "alternate" (nonstandard) forms. Cognrats!
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:4, Insightful)
Couple other points: there's nothing wrong with socialism, it's a flattener - it creates a broad middle ground while minimizing the very poor and the very wealthy. If the odds of getting very wealthy in a capitalist society were more than very loosely based on merit, I might be more in favor of it, but as it is, I see a large middle ground as preferable to a small (15%? I forget) portion of the populace controlling 80% of the wealth.
Last point re: minumum wage - while 15 is rather high, minumum wage is supposed to be a LIVING wage. Right now, if you work a 40 hour a week job at minumum wage, you can NOT AFFORD TO LIVE in most parts of America without outside assistance. Your views are consistent with someone who has never truly had to want, and has never faced a realistic prospect of starvation and had humbling experience of having to rely on someone elses generosity for your basic needs.
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:2)
Re:Simple: "Show me the money?" (Score:2)
Jaysyn
Read my lips (Score:2)
the other BSA (Score:2)
On topic: Using "free" (beer or speech) software may reduce costs associated with license fees and audits.
dont mangle our baby (Score:2)
Okay, for real:
- tell people how much money you save
- you'll have to proove that OS software really won't have a negative impact on services and IT progress of your city
Basically, everything has to be on the upside versus propriatary software. If you can tie it in to huge $$$ saving by the city, thats a language every voter can talk.
Re:dont mangle our baby (Score:2)
Hmm.
Re:dont mangle our baby (Score:2)
Re:dont mangle our baby (Score:2)
Hmm.
Everything is on the upside versus proprietary systems. Sure, you'll fire a dozen MSCE monkeys, and may have to change your hardware, but just don't mention that.
Oh and when your opponent calls you a Commie, call him a Nazi in Microsoft's pay [slashdot.org]. (Name calling can fly both ways; in these 'politically charged' times, it is also highly dangerous)
Re:dont mangle our baby (Score:2)
- can you garauntee support turnaround with OS?(ie, by talking OS, does he support paying people for support? accountability is a VERY important thing in politics
- are there certain applications/services in which there exists no suitable OS alternative, and how would you handle that? (I'd ask, because I've seen OS pundits try to claim that OS software X is better than propriatary Y, when in reality, they are years apart in their feature sets)
Anyhow, I'm just trying to think up questions and concerns voters might have about a politician who's interested in mandating the use of OS software in public services systems. It'd be interesting to see public reaction in his city to his attitude towards using OS software. Good luck to him!
Well... (Score:2, Interesting)
Basically, the thing to remember is that most people who've even heard of linux have had it pitched by rabid fans, who make themselves more enemies than converts. If you're trying to convince these folks that linux/open source is worthwhile, you're going to have a hard time.
And good luck in your run!
It's not appropriate (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It's not appropriate (Score:5, Insightful)
As a citizen, do you think I want to know what brand asphalt you're going to use to fill the potholes?
Actually, if some of the asphalt vendors have "Asphalt User License Agreements" that restrict the local government's usage of the asphalt, expose the government to random audits and potentially crippling fines for violations of the license agreement, I would be very interested in my local goverments choice in asphalt.
(And since I suspect that agreements like this actually exist for some government construction projects, I really do want politicians discuss such issues.)
Re:It's not appropriate (Score:4, Insightful)
I really do want politicians discuss such issues.
But the issue you want discussed is not asphalt, but the cost of goverment or too much control or interference by contractors and vendors. Asphalt will be but one example.
And you'd better be damn sure it's a significant issue, cost, or problem before you bring it up, because 1) your time to get an "elect me" message out is limited, and 2) if your constituents don't find it compelling you'll never get a chance to solve the problem.
Every politician has severe time/message/dollar optimization problem. That's why negative campaigning is so effective. It's often more efficient to say "My opponent is scum" that to build up a set of compelling arguments about why your position on all the key issues is superior.
Who are you kidding? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if you THINK you do, I doubt you really do. In order to make an informed decision on these matters must spend SOME time learning the background and the difference between the competing alternatives. Even with an issue like Open Source, there is considerable debate in the technical community about whether or not it actually saves money and it's got to be even harder for the average person to make heads or tails of it. It's not as if there's a simple authoritative source you can go to that says Open Source > Closed Source. It may be trivial to discover that the software itself takes money to actually purchase, but finding out the actual support costs, training, quality of the software, and other elements takes a lot of time and intuition. Speaking for myself, I'd actually be opposed to this kind of adoption, especially in a government agency.
Now you're going to do this kind of research for each and every little item? Asphalt? Shovels? Paper? Paper clips? It may sound ridiculous, but I doubt software costs more than
This argument is especially ridiculous when you consider that the kinds of day to day payroll decisions made by managers have a far greater impact and cost far more. For instance, would you rather have an experienced admin run NT or a bunch of clowns running Linux? I know which I'd pick. Yet it's blatantly obvious that we can't effectively engage in this kind of oversight.
Re:Who are you kidding? (Score:3, Insightful)
Hrm. I'd pick an experienced admin running Linux. Preferably one who knew what a false dichotomy was.
Re:It's not appropriate (Score:5, Insightful)
But what about the voting citizens? They're alot smaller, some of them do care what kind of asphalt you use.
Invite all three of them to a public hearing.
Seriously, this is not a campaign issue. It is a means to an end, e.g., if I can save money, make govt. run more efficiently, etc., then you campaign on those items as issues and when or if you get into a discussion on details, then you bring up the processes and techniques you'll use.
Re:$$ is always important (Score:2)
I'd have to agree with the parent tho...stressing techie issues is a bad way to try to get elected. Regardless of whether it is a legitimate problem or not, the tech-saavy population is one of the least motivated electorates around. How many
Relying on the tech saavy vote to get elected probably won't work. However, that said, when re-election time rolls around, the "I saved the city $xxxxxx.xx using open source software" might work really well.
Listen... (Score:4, Insightful)
Try not to be an open source zealot....most people won't understand, and, if and when something goes to hell, your "free" software will be blamed. CYA!!!
Indirectly? (Score:5, Insightful)
mean a lot to your constituency. However, you can
say that you have ideas about how to streamline
governmental IT budgets without cutting services.
A more subtle point is that open source improves
openness. Using open file formats and protocols
protects the government and the public from vendor
lock-in. It also improves the chance that government archives will still be accessible in
the middling and distant future. I don't know
how you can make these points sound-bite-friendly,
but it's worth thinking about.
Re:Indirectly? (Score:2)
Hopefully Timothy you have more of a platform that Free Software. If that is the case, then tailor your message to the audience. When posting to /. talk about Free Software, when talking to businessmen use phrases like "fiscal responsibility," "lower taxes," or "increased services." When pushed for details then you can mention specifics (like Key Largo and their IT infrastructure). When talking to soccer moms, stress the importance of public education.
There is no way to make Free Software sound bite friendly. Half the of the words that we use have at least somewhat negative connotations with most normal folk. In fact, even the phrase "Free Software" is problematic unless you are talking to an audience that knows what Emacs is. Whatever you do, don't mention the word "hacker."
Good Luck.
Re:Indirectly? (Score:2)
I wish you luck (Score:4, Insightful)
As soon as your opponent would say: " wants to give away all software, and that will cost jobs, especially in this industry where people are being laid off now" then you are sunk with the 40,000 people who don't know the industry.
Another thing you will realize, is that, on the whole, people don't care about the same things that get discussed on here. They just don't. Perhaps they should, but that doesn't make it happen. So again, I wish you luck.
40,000 or 400? (Score:2, Informative)
OTOH, campaigns aren't won by getting all the votes, just by getting enough. Elections can be decided by a slim margin. Will 400 more votes make the difference for you? Maybe.
You can talk about open source to the right people; LUGs, CS students at local schools, IT/tech workers, etc. Target your open source msg to these folks and bring in non-voters or sway fence-sitters in these groups.
Once you win, push open source solutions to save money. Tax payers love saving money on gov't budgets. You can then use this goodwill/political capital to get things done and/or continue to serve in gov't.
Forget It (Score:2, Funny)
b) Most people who would be knowledgable (primarily young men) would be too busy playing {Enter Latest Game Here} to remember to vote.
c) If you already have systems up and running and existing licenses then the savings would be more long term than short term. This is always bad since people have a short - what the hell was I saying?
Price / Performance (Score:2)
After all, if the city government doesn't have to pay up fees, buy (most) software, worry about viri, and the other day to day details of IT software cost, then the money spent on that can go else where, say providing a few people to do support and development for the custom apps that the city will want.
Open Source Spin (Score:2, Informative)
Some general directions to try:
Those are just off the top of my head. I agree with other posters that not too many people are concerned with open source directly, but as a symbol of democracy, free market capitalism, and innovation, it might help you make some points.
State the problem. Show tha Linux is the solution. (Score:5, Interesting)
If you can demonstrate that using Linux will...
- Reduce computer costs and free up more money for education...
- Make it easier for kids to get computers, to play and learn with (and so develop future job skills)...
- Have a proven track record of being more secure against attackers...
- Will enable computers and related services to more available, more quickly to e.g. rural areas than otherwise...
...then you've got something you can sell to non computer-geek voters.
You need to simply identify how using OSS well improve your would-be constituents' lives.
UVA - Don't ignore the students! (Score:2, Insightful)
Savings. (Score:2, Flamebait)
Depends what the potential savings are to your constituents. If you can present open source software in concrete terms as in "Ditching Microsoft will pay for one more school per year in our city" then perhaps people will listen.
Otherwise you'll have exactly one extra vote, from RMS.
Okay, first, let's be realistic... (Score:2, Insightful)
Something like this will most likely end up costing more in the end.
Communicating the value of open source (Score:2)
This is opposed to corporations that write software that's just barely good enough to sell copies and make money. Once you've paid them, whether it works or not is of no importance anymore.
With open source, quality of software wins over the ignorant boss's/management's priorities every time.
It's the budget (Score:5, Interesting)
- reduced cost of licencing
- reduced cost of licence compliance
- reduced cost of dealing with security
- reduced waste in government offices (open software tends to have less feature-creep, which means less time doing stuff that shouldn't be done at all (like writing your memos in three columns).
Issues of freedom come second. The problem is they are more abstract, difficult to grasp, and non-local. And you are not running for President so your voters might not care about your opinions about copyright and copyleft.Of course if you were running in Berkeley, things might be different ;-) but you aren't.
How is this a municipal issue? (Score:5, Interesting)
I know I wouldn't.
If you're running for city council, stick to the top issues in municipal government: schools, taxes, crime, etc.
At most you might say something like "as information technology becomes increasingly important to the successful managment of any business or government, our city council would benefit by having a member who understands how to apply IT tools to improve the function of city government." But leave it at that.
Of course! (Score:2)
He just has to promise that he'll make better schools, lower taxes, and less crime! His opponent will never think of that!
Re:How is this a municipal issue? (Score:2)
Not necessarily. Hell, he's probably more qualified to take on the bigger issues than most twits that run for a city office. As long as he has the sense to consult the right people, he can make the right decisions in areas where he's not an expert.
Money and money (Score:3, Insightful)
Make the point of "Why are we spending large amounts of money on licenses and opening outselves to spending even more defending ourselves against charges that we haven't bought enough, when there's software available that does the job and which doesn't require a license per seat?". Point out the state and municipal governments that've gotten audited by companies like Microsoft and had to spend large amounts of the taxpayer's money to prove they really did have all the licenses they needed. Ask whether this is really a prudent way to spend tax money, when there's an alternative available.
The easy sell (Score:4, Insightful)
Furthermore, you can explain briefly how with the source code available, special changes to the software for specific needs can be done by any programmer and the city won't have to buy $100K of custom software -- $100K will easily get you a couple full-time programmers in Charlottesville for a year.
Just remember, voters don't want things complex, and TV and papers will almost never let you discuss anything in detail, so it's got to be something simple and quick. "If we change to Linux, our base costs will be less and our long term costs will save the city X dollars over Y years." "Remember Virginia Beach and the Microsoft audit! One hundred twenty-nine THOUSAND dollars for software the city already bought!!!" You get the idea, otherwise, give up politics. (:
woof.
Re:The easy sell (Score:2, Insightful)
Suppose that the overall cost of the operation were the same whether you used free software or a completely Microsoft-driven solution. Where does the money GO? In the Microsoft case, we know where it goes. It lines the pockets of executives in Bellevue and Mercer Island. In the case of the free software solution, the money goes to LOCAL CONTRACTORS AND CITY EMPLOYEES.
Yes, that's right folks. It makes JOBS. And it's JOBS that prop up the economy in these troubled times. Keep the money at home in Charlottesville!
Quite simple, really (Score:5, Funny)
Use puppets. MAke one of them act mean, make the other one act kind, and make sure that the kind one explains the moral at the end.
Barring that, most voters won't pay attention.
How about (Score:2)
hmm (Score:2)
You can't.
Be vague. Find out how much the city spent on open-source server software, figure out how much they can save, then write in your campaign literature: "An IT professional, recently did an analysis of the city's computer infrastructure, and found that it was wasting . As a member of the council, will be able to help eliminate this kind of wasteful spending." For small municipal elections, you can usually win by drowning out the other candidates with enough colorful, interesting ads.
I wouldn't try to replace all the workstation software; it would just be too costly and inefficient in the end.
Where's Waldo? (Score:2)
Seriously, I'd be careful, if I were you.
There may be certain legal repercussions. As well, are you campaigning for councillor or the city's IT Manager position?
Talk about taking all expendatures to task with the various Department heads. Then use Open Source Software as an example of how to save money long term - that would buy you more credibility. Stay away if you can from subjects that contain "Corporate Control" and "Legal Issues" - they tend to glaze the eyes of John Q. Public.
Remember, this isn't a Slashdot poll.
Soko
Lower Taxes (Score:2)
Re:Lower Taxes (Score:2)
That means, increased taxes to increase spending on paving roads that were paved last in year in order to contract the job out to your brother, who just happens to own a paving company (which you actually had 25% ownership of before you got elected), at a higher than average rate so you get a cutback from the job....
Interesting "Ask Slashdot" (Score:2)
I have to me-too the other posts: you're saving taxpayers' money. Bashing Microsoft may be fun (and many of your constituents may agree with you) but it doesn't mean anything if there isn't real savings and/or improved productivity.
You may also be benefiting the community by opening the source of work done for the city; custom work is done for cities' web tools, etc., and this could be useful to your constituents as well as other municipal webmasters (for example).
I must say, though, that I bet this is not your constituents' highest priority. Here in SF, CA it's the usual suspects: the economy, jobs, homeless, crime, transportation, housing, etc., etc. The OS used in city government is not on the radar of even one percent of voters, I guarantee it. So make sure you have other issues you're running on as well!
Use anti-spam as a selling point instead. (Score:2)
Who owns your Data & how much do they extort? (Score:2, Insightful)
And have They [slashdot.org] been to your city yet. Use it to your advantage. Use examples [slashdot.org] of other successful places [newsforge.com]. Between a lower budget, better reliability, and no fears of data lockup, it would make a good plank in your platform, but you will need other things to make a stand on. Lastly, be prepared for some mud slinging. Probalby they will paint OSS as commie or some other Non-American thing. Explain it as being Christian (give unto poor) and use other metaphors to make the populace think of Free software writers as good charitable folks. Might want to avoid outright speaking of it as Christian, but as a politician, you should know how to turn a phrase to put an idea in the populace's mind.
The REAL answer (Score:2)
No one cares. Let me say that one more time: No one cares. And again, but louder: NO ONE CARES ABOUT OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE.
If you make it a campaign focus, you will lose, simple as that.
If you care about this issue, then fine, but learn the first rule of politics: you have to get elected. That means figure out what your constituents care about, and propose solutions to THOSE problems.
If you get elected, then you can try and push OSS software if you want and think it's important. But don't fool yourself into thinking that this issue is important to the average person.
And one last: Never fool yourself into thinking that it SHOULD be important to the average person, because it just isn't compared to other problems.
Be specific.. (Score:2)
To that end, if you've got real identifiable places where IT could be streamlined with open source products, develop a plan. Make it accessible (both in the physical sense -- it's on a website, and the site has a name I'll remember) and in the mental sense. Even if regular folk could access all 7000 pages of this year's tax bill, no one would understand it -- it's not mentally accessible to us. Finally, bullet-ize the major benefits your consituency will get out of open source, and remember your audience -- focus on direct and immediate benefits of open source (reduce taxes? make more government services available? get out from under Redmond's thumb? -- you should know your consituency, you know what'll resonate with them).
By the time you hit the campaign trail, your message should be "I'm going to reform our local government's IT with open source software. Your benefits from this reform will be x, y, and z. Find out more about my plan at votewaldo.org." Then, make the information you present on the website detailed and specific, but accessible to the average voter.
Hey if don't work in Charlottesville (Score:2)
Careful on this one (Score:2)
A possible strategy would be "The county is currently running a computer system that jeopardizes the security and reliability of the IT infrastructure in our county offices, and I have proven solutions that could dramatically correct these issues and at the same time save taxpayers thousands of dollars a year in unnecessary IT purchases".
Bring to their attention insecurity of data and inefficiency of spending, and then tell them how you are going to fix it.
NO no NO no NO no (Score:2)
No, you're going to run into the "what does source mean in this context? and what makes it open? secure? secure from what?" mentality. I swear, from the way people here talk you'd think the entire population of the US read slashdot. The average voter/citizen has almost no interest in comparing an operating system that they don't understand with an operating system they've never heard of. A large percentage of them probably have never heard of the term "operating system". They still don't quite get the idea of e-mail, though they might be able to use it if it's set up for them. Linux isn't even a blip on their radar, and the idea of modifiable "source code" is totally beyond them. It has nothing to do with intelligence or education, it's simply that they just don't get involved in that sort of thing, and a campaign that used it as its main focus would probably fail.
Re:NO no NO no NO no (Score:2)
You are absolutely correct. I can guarantee my parents and my siblings don't care about what system the government runs, just so long as they can get their permits/licenses/social security checks/etc quickly and with minimum fuss. That means the candidate can focus purely on saving money. It is a quick and easy Talking Point. "If elected, I will oversee an overhaul of technical systems, implementing tried and true systems which will save the taxpayers [x] amount a year."
you've overlooked the solution (Score:2)
It's so easy! Dress up in a fuzzy penguin suit and hand out debian cds to everyone you see. Most of them won't know what to do with the cds, but you'll save a few souls I'm sure. For the rest of them... well, hey, you're wearing a cute, fuzzy, penguin suit. And that's something everyone will find both interesting and accessible. I mean, how many politicians walk around in penguin suits? None. You'd be the talk of the town. Hell, the nation. Maybe even the world.
Trade (Score:2, Interesting)
First, obvious to someone who's going to vote, you have how much money the city or the governament scope will save. Then after you PROVE and you do your little MARKETING (hey that's politics) of how you are going to save money, say that this money is going to be used for:
1) Buy schools new computer, hire people to teach computer classes to children (education issues)
2) Build a network among schools, fireman, police, hospital, etc... (health, security, future issues)
3) Found user groups so people can help people (community issues)
Okay, that's enough, my boss is calling me. Anyway, you must find a balance between what people traditionally want from politicians (all the good and the ugly of it) and how using open source will satisfy these needs.
Money is the first thing someone would think, but you also have Microsoft that may OR may not crumble (even if just a little) with the trials.
Say to people: "Hey, let's not buy software from a company that been accused of doing Bad Things to us. Choose an alternative! Vote for me, bla bla bla".
Politicians do this all the time (playing with what MIGHT happen and exagerating the facts or assumptions).
I don't know how your personality is, if you can play this political game or not. Anyway, you will have to.. and once you start (I don't know your past) you will have to make these little concessions.
Draw on papers what people want and what Open Source can give you. Than separate these two piles of paper and in between go filling the table with the arguments that you will use, topics that you will choose. If you can make a lot, and good, connections, maybe it will work. Just remember to judge stuff from the point of view from someone who's going to vote for you.
Last, go to schools, universities, user groups, star trek meetings around your area and get as many as geeks as is possible to, of course, vote for you and give you more ideas. (think globally, act locally
Be sure to visit users groups (Score:2)
Guaranteed votes if you express some sort of OSS advocacy. Maybe this only accounts for several hundred or thousands votes but they would be cheap votes in terms of amount of time spent.
You might even get some offers to help.
BTW since you are somewhat close to florida you might try to get your name on _top_ of the ballot
Home Town Pride (Score:2)
Get people on the self-reliance kick. Relate it to stories about early pioneers not relying on the support of the major cities, or to direct ancestors of people famous in the town.
Much of the Free Software advocacy kick is based on out-and-out pride. We try to push GNU, Linux and BSD into service not just because they're technically superior in many ways, but because we feel like it's made by Our People rather than some deranged Redmond focus group or snooty Cupertino aesthete. We can identify with the people who made it.
Remember that Red Hat is in North Carolina, too. I don't know how you folks feel about the triangle, but you may be able to work up some small regional pride there if you can't find any local developers.
Make it about waste. (Score:2)
OTOH, many of them probably have strong opinions on government waste. Spending money on M$ and other proprietary products when free (as in beer or speech) alternatives exist could be spun as a big-vs.-small gov't or gov't waste issue (at least on the city level, where big software corporations won't go after you with huge campaign contributions to your opponent(s)).
Best of luck - we need more geeks in office.
OK,
- B
the way to present it... (Score:2)
#1 - cost savings... show the HUGE $$$$ saved.
your constituents will love this.. saving huge dollars right now is great for everyone. any naysayers (read that as MSCE's) will scream that ther are no productivity apps.. point out that there are in fact many many FREE productivity apps that work well. and that a county in florida has sucessfully switched and saved bags of money.
#2 - freedom.. Nationalism is runnung rampant right now... (not patriotism, but that's another issue) Open source screams freedom, freedom from being under control of a corperation... freedom from forcing a replacement of all computers every 2 years.
finally wrap it up as that computers in government are there to work for the people and to do the job, not to make money for large companies.
I would read everything you can about the communities that have changed to OSS and run from there.....
research your topic.... but the $$$ saved is what will get the attention of the sheep\b\b\b\b\b regular citizen out there.
It's closer (Score:2)
Yes, I know Redhat is not Linux, but it's American, though maybe a little too red for most of your constituents.
OSS on the campaign trail (Score:2)
The best way to approach this is to write up a comprehensive plan for your vision of the city. If it includes OSS, that's cool. Emphasize the cost-savings on licenses, and the potential savings on hardware replacement (don't have to replace all servers every 24 months if the software doesn't become exponentially more bloated every year), and then move on.
Political reality is that most citizens care about two things: Crime in their neighborhood, and high taxes. As long as you take care of these two things, you're in good shape.
Be specific, what does it offer? (Score:2)
Finally, have you verified that you can actually have any effect? Many cities have charters that explicitly prohibit the city council from interfering with the daily operations of the city departments - that's province of the city manager.
You'll win or lose on other issues (Score:2, Insightful)
In your case, there MIGHT be a campaign issue involving the "efficiency" of city government, espcially if there's a program to "wire" the city or get city departments "on line". Without knowing the politics in Charlottesville, I will assume it is not a burning issue. (It took Marion Barry YEARS to make government incompetance an issue in DC - by causing much of it - and it's STILL far from being fixed). Schools? You might have computers in the classroom issues, or the town/gown deal with UVA, but I expect just getting a "passing" grade on the state Standards of Learning exams are a big enough deal.
Sure, you can work open source software into elements of the campaign, but it isn't going to get you elected. Or understood.
[semi relevant factoid: The Al Gore presidential campaign web site ran on linux and used open source software throughout (apache, php, mysql...). Did anyone care? The campaign did - it saved them $$ and worked better than W's big $$ Dell cluster running ASP. Did it help the campaign - yes, for raising money and building "community". Did it make a difference in winning or losing the election? IMHO, not a bit.]
My recommendation... (Score:4, Funny)
Make your campaign slogan "Free as in Beer"
Then make posters like this:
FREE
as in
BEER
Make the "FREE" and "BEER" in a really big size, and the "as in" in a really small size.
Oh, don't forget to put your name on the poster somewhere too. In big letters. Probably as big as the letters you make "FREE BEER".
Seriously though, I would check with the town clerk or historian and see how much they have been spending on software over the past few years. Draw up a budget plan and present it to the people showing the disparate prices between the software, and the re-training/OSS costs.
People will be concerned about.... (Score:2)
People will be concerned about cost (since they pay for that) and privacy (they pay for that, too, if some hacker comes and snatches confidential data the city has about them). You don't have to specifically say the L-word, but you should campaign on issues like "saving taxpayer money" and "preserving city resident privacy by increasing security in the city IT department". If asked how you would do that say "If I am elected, I would form a special task force to review security, procedures, and cost structure in city government, including the IT department". Avoid saying "Microsoft vs. Linux" specifically, as that would make it appear you have an agenda not specifically associated with city political issues. If asked about that say something like "I will certainly make sure all our options are open, and if a change in software will make things more secure and reduce costs, then I'm all for that and will see to it that it gets done".
Be sure to read this [slashdot.org], too.
Suggested line (Score:2)
Free Campaign Advice (Score:2)
Hi!
By way of introduction, let me mention up front that I've been an elected public official, an elected party official, and I've run several political campaigns in municipal, county, and state senate races.
Let me offer some advice.
Don't pitch Open Source
You're attempting two impossible things at one time: you're raising an issue that you simply cannot get across in the limited bandwidth of a campaign; and you're staking your campaign on the city's website and it's present outsourced contractor. Picking on a city vendor is generally a bad campaign strategy, unless the vendor is already on the front page of the newspaper or the current mayor's brother-in-law. Otherwise you are perceived as "rocking the boat" and a nuisance--and you will guarantee yourself absolutely zero cooperation from municipal employees on issues like poster permits, etc. You also instantly create an opponent: the city official responsible for selecting the incumbent (Windows-based) web hosting firm. Who will, undoubtedly, be quoted in the newspaper as saying, "if this guy wants to be the city I.T. director, he should come down to City Hall and fill out a job application. Picking the software for the website isn't City Council's job...."
I'm not kidding. I have seen this happen before.
Back in the late 1980s I recruited a candidate to run for the local school board. This guy was perfect. He had a clue about schools and education, he had kids in the district schools, he was an assistant coach in the local township rec. league, and he had a terrific grasp of financial issues. Except....
The guy was going to TQM (Total Quality Management) training classes, and embracing the TQM religion. And he got religion--he started talking about implementing TQM in the schools, and he wouldn't get off the subject. He talked about it when he was campaigning, he talked about it when he talked to voters at home, he talked about it in his brochures, and he handed out a white paper on TQM at the League of Women Voters meeting. It was, um, a bit over the top. It's been maybe 10-15 years, and I still get grief from local leaders about the guy--where did I dig him up?
What you should do
Understand that you have a very limited amount of bandwidth to talk to the voter. And you have a very limited number of voters to talk to. And 95% of those voters are interested in races that they view as more significant than yours. All of which means that you simply cannot even begin to sell something as complex as Open Source, or as instantly controversial as "replacing the city's Internet consulting firm" (which is how the newspaper will report your campaign platform).
Instead, do these steps:
And hey--if you do get elected, drop me a note. My oldest daughter is going off to college in Lynchburg [lynchburg.edu] next fall, and I know she'll be traveling to C'ville for riding lessons. It might be handy to have a contact to call in an emergency.
This Is Waldo Jaquith's Actual Account (Score:2)
Anyhow, I'd appreciate if moderators could moderate appropriately. Thanks, folks! Of to class...
-Waldo Jaquith
It's a means, not an end (Score:2)
Keep in mind that your job as a public official would be to serve the public's selfish interest. Using Open Source Software and Free Software just happen to be ways that often (but not always) serve that end.
What you tell them is that you are going to fight government waste of their tax dollars and reduce corporate welfare. And OSS/FS are one of the ways you'll do it.
You explain how they allow you to get software (if it already exists) for little or no expenditure. And for software that doesn't yet exist or needs a lot of mods, it allows you to shop around among contractors to get the best bid (since you have the code, instead of them). And if the desired mods are popular, you may even be able to con some suckers (perhaps even in another country) into doing the work for you, for free, without any taxpayer expenditures at all!
I've heard there have been recent BSA radio ads. It would be amusing if those same ads were immediately followed by ads that say that if you're elected, you'll use software that doesn't require that the local government employ auditors to serve the interest of some private megacorp on the other side of the country.
Don"t Try It.. Don't. Really, don't try it. (Score:4, Insightful)
"Ladies and gentlemen, like many of you, I have heard Mr. Jaquith's speech on the benefits of switching the town to what he calls 'open-source' software. And like many of you, I am confused. Our city need money for roads, and schools. Our children need more parks and playgrounds, and children's programs to keep our youth off the streets. As we go into this new century, our city faces questions of crime, of poverty - Mr. Jaquith talks about Linucks and Debean or whatever it's called - I, for one, cannot make heads or tails of it.
And that's his perogative, of course - the right to campaign freely is what makes this country what it is, the unshakeable roots of our culture. But not to put too fine a point on it, do the people of Charlottville really care about my worthy opponent's issues? As long as our taxes and payrolls for city workers are processed in a timely manner, as long as other computerized fuctions are carried out properly - why should we change them? Even Mr. Jaquith cannot tell us how they will save any meaningful amount of time - in fact, I tell you it will cost us time, as our town employees are forced to learn the new system. So why does Mr. Jaquith want this?
I can tell you that. He believes that it is wrong, my friends, to pay for software. He believes a product that costs thousands of man-hours to produce must be given away for free, and that those who would not do this are evil. Go to a web site called slashdot.org, or freshmeat.net, or read any "linux advocacy" magazine, and the "open source" position becomes clear.
I know that this is a tight race, and that I may not be elected. That's fine, that's the democratic process, and I can accept that. But my fellow citizens, I ask one thing of you. When the time comes for you to vote, vote based on the issues that actually matter to your lives. Schools, taxes, health care - if you do not agree with me on these things, then please do not vote for me. But please don't vote for Waldo Jaquith for the sake of a complex new system that we don't need. Thank you."
It's a little rough, I admit, but with a little polishing it might be good against you, sir. Find "real" issues, like those mentioned in the speech above, and campaign on those - open source is something you can work for once you're actually in power. I hope this helped.
Re:Don"t Try It.. Don't. Really, don't try it. (Score:4, Insightful)
Our city need money for roads, and schools. Our children need more parks and playgrounds, and children's programs to keep our youth off the streets. As we go into this new century, our city faces questions of crime, of poverty - Mr. Jaquith talks about Linucks and Debean or whatever it's called - I, for one, cannot make heads or tails of it.
Mr. Jaquith's possible response:
My honored opponent cannot make heads or tails of the concept of open source. Allow me to simplify matters some what. When Bill Gate's home town asked what software they should use, Bill Gates, co-founder of the largest software company in the world, recommended open source.
My honored opponent wants more money for things we need, such as roads, schools, and youth programs. I completely agree. Freeing ourselves of the enourmous costs of closed, propritary, expensive software will let us, in the long term, put that money to those uses.
And that's his perogative, of course - the right to campaign freely is what makes this country what it is, the unshakeable roots of our culture. But not to put too fine a point on it, do the people of Charlottville really care about my worthy opponent's issues?
My honored opponent and I want the same things. We each, however, wish to accomplish that in differing ways. No matter who wins this election, you, the voter, are the real winner. The people should care that we spend too much money to write letters, too much money to print checks, and too much money to keep track of it all. These are areas of improvment I see we can make. These are simple things, really, and while we will have to train people in the new ways, we have to train them in the current software anyway. At least with open source, we are not forced to upgrade to new systems every two years, re-train on the new systems, and upgrade expensive hardware in the bargan. My friends, this is precicely what we have to do now with our current systems. My proposal has the advantage that we are able to control our costs more effectively than if we allow Microsoft to dictate to us when, how, and how much our upgrades will cost. We won't have to drop our youth programs because we have to buy a software upgrade this year. We don't have to reduce services because someone half a contenant away decides it's time for us to buy the newest version. Those choices will be firmly in our hands, to steer our own course, to determine our, and our children's, destiny.
As long as our taxes and payrolls for city workers are processed in a timely manner, as long as other computerized fuctions are carried out properly - why should we change them? Even Mr. Jaquith cannot tell us how they will save any meaningful amount of time - in fact, I tell you it will cost us time, as our town employees are forced to learn the new system. So why does Mr. Jaquith want this?
I can tell you that. He believes that it is wrong, my friends, to pay for software. He believes a product that costs thousands of man-hours to produce must be given away for free, and that those who would not do this are evil. Go to a web site called slashdot.org, or freshmeat.net, or read any "linux advocacy" magazine, and the "open source" position becomes clear.
My worthy opponent is correct. It will cost time and money to switch to a new system. This is why I want to investigate the use of open source software. Since some open source software has been given to the betterment of mankind, should we turn up our noses and close our eyes because someone decided to give us this gift? Should refuse this gift just because it doesn't line a corporation's pockets with even more money?
My opponent wants to put words in my mouth. He wants you to read things not said by me, not endorced by me, and not written at my behest as what I beleive. Well, he can ask you to do that, and some may even think that way. I cannot, and will not, tell anyone what they should beleive. This is, as my opponent points out, a free country. Since this is true, allow me the freedom of telling you what I think, and not what my opponent whats you to think about me. As for free software, if that is what the author wants to do with it, then I'll take them up on their offer. If that isn't what they want to do with their software, and we need it, of course we should pay for it. But do we need to pay for it over, and over and over again? Do you have to buy a new hammer for each nail? I say it's high time we quit buying a new hammer every time we need to drive a nail. If that's new fangled thinking, then I'm guilty as charged.
OK, rant mode off now.
Harry Homeowner doesn't really care what system sends out his property tax bill, he just wants that bill to be lower. If you can invoke the self interest of the voter, do that. Ideologs don't fair well at that polls, but others that promise to bannish a boogieman do. I forget what movie it was that the guy playing president said "All he's interested in is telling you why you should be afraid of it, and who is to blame for it." There is more truth to that than anything else.
But really, public service is to serve the public need. If you are running just to get open source into the city IT infrastructure, you are running for the wrong reason and should get out now.
A last note; don't try to do this all at once. Pick a department that isn't cricital to the operations of other departments, and do them as a proof of concept. Or pick one facet of city business and do that. DON'T try to change the world overnight, because it just won't happen.
Good luck!
As someone who has helped manage a local campaign (Score:3, Insightful)
Or rather, don't make open source a focal point in your campaign because you'll just get 40,000 glazed eyes, and 40,000 people who will think you're a nut who has focused on some small aspect of the campaign rather than the "big issue" ideas such as city management, police, fire, and schools.
Of course if you do put together a position paper on your overall campaign, you may want to toss out open source as a line item, or a minor talking point. But by and large, think of a campaign as a very large job interview in front of 40,000 potential employers who don't give a damn and who can't be bothered to read your resume.
If I were you, in this current election cycle, I would concern myself with police first, schools second, and local concerns third. If open source even comes up, talk about it as a potential tax savings that can potentially be used to help fund police efforts or whatever.
By the way, a realistic estimate of the cost to transition a town to open source should factor in the cost to retrain users and the cost for your town's MIS department to make the transition in terms of lowered productivity and consulting time. And while overall you probably will save a fair amount of money, realistically speaking the fiscal savings over the course of a year may not buy one police squad car. (Not that the savings is insignificant, but in the scope of running a town, it's relatively small chump change.)
Oh, and by the way, slightly off topic: beware political math done by any of your opponents! When I helped my brother win in the city council in Fresno several years back, it was done largely because he went up against an opponent who tried to claim that a $1 million savings in one place could be used to hire a hundred police officers and pay their salaries for one year. (Do the math: factoring in training costs and the cost of supplies, what's left wouldn't pay minimum wage.)
Oh, and beware the last minute advertising blitz! That is, beware of your opponents taking out a whole bunch of last minute advertising which sways the voters away from you. The last election cycle, my brother was defeated because his opponent violated campaign financing rules (a criminal offense in this state) to buy advertising that painted my brother as a crook. (The irony there should be obvious.)
Anyways, good luck!
Good Answers, Everybody (Score:3, Interesting)
Now I know.
-Waldo Jaquith
Re:Don't (Score:2)
Re:Hi, I don't really have a platform... (Score:5, Informative)
As for the cost savings, yes, Linux can cost more money than it saves when the transition is not carefully planned and executed. Part of the reason for that is the large number of people who "make Linux harder than it is", as Roblimo, IIRC, pointed out. There is a variety of extremely simple graphical e-mail clients. Konqueror or Mozilla are both web browsers that can be used by almost anyone (whereas Konqueror can be set up easily by anyone with half a clue to look and act like IE). It's exactly the Internet client problems that are mostly solved on the desktop. Don't invent problems that do not exist. Surely you could set up mutt and procmail on a library computer, but then don't be surprised if people point and laugh.
But cost savings are not the main reason to move to Linux. The main reason are the long-term benefits of source code openness, which includes easy expandability, which is a major plus, because many additions by anyone from government agencies to corporations will be returned into the pool of open source software, to the benefit of all -- the more open-source software (GPL) is used, the more powerful this effect becomes (and there's the obvious "given enough eyes .." security/stability advantage, which also increases exponentially). Also, schools and libraries will not have to deal with unmanageable obsolescence cycles which are deliberately created by the Wintel duopoly. OSS will make computers better, more easy-to-use and cheaper. You should support those trying to make that difference, or become one of them.
Re:Like... (Score:2)