Re: Guadec and Dutch government plans for OSS and desktop

[Sanne te Meerman <sanne opensourceadvies nl>]

Yes, great. When I first joined this list, I also saw post from you and 
others about this. I think the fact that Gnome's active in this area can 
really do good in publicity as well. (Appart from the fact that it's 
supergreat in itself of course :-)  )
Brian Cameron schreef:
> Sanne:
>
> One thing that I notice is that your document makes no mention of
> accessibility.  Many governments are interested in supporting
> workers, citizens and students who are disabled.  GNOME provides,
> at no cost, a wide range of accessibility support for users who are
> blind, have vision problems, and have mobility impairments.  No
> other free desktop yet provides the support that GNOME provides at
> no cost.
>
> Note that proprietary solutions for the disabled can be very expensive.
> To make a computer using a proprietary operating system support the
> same degree of accessibility support that is provided at no charge with
> GNOME, it is often necessary to spend thousands of dollars purchasing
> additional software needed to provide this sort of functionality.
>
> I would think this would be of interest to any government.
>
> Brian
>
>
> > I've made a post before where I addressed the Dutch' government plans
> > for OSS in their desktop. As Guadec will be in holland this year, the
> > organisation is aiming to have one or a view sessions about OSS in
> > public intstitutions. The government just released a consultation asking
> > for feedback about their plans.
> >
> > The document and interaction with government could provide several
> > opportunities:
> > -It could give vital information about preconditions to target
> > government markets.
> > -Gnome could give an official reaction to them (before the end of march)
> > or later in a technical magazine or webzine to praise the merits of the
> > plans and criticize weaknesses, and showing themselves as a serious
> > contender.
> > -Could provide an opportunity for exposure as a lot of magazines might
> > be interested in Gnome's thoughts about this.
> > -resulting in Buzz, exposure, increased opportunities for Guadec
> > fundraising, etc. etc.
> >
> > You decide, here it is. It's in dutch. If you think this could be
> > interesting, let me know, so we might have someone translate it.
> > http://wiki.noiv.nl/xwiki/bin/download/OpenDWR/WebHome/RealisatielijnOpenDWRv0.93februari.pdf 
> >
> >
> >
> > regards,
> > Sanne