[school-discuss] Message to State Rep

[Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>]

Below is the message I sent to Representative Parson.
I don't expect all of you to agree with my wording,
but what the heck--when you send messages to your own
legislators, you can pick your own text. :-)

Naturally, I'm not expecting unanimous approval of my
choice of links, either. The list certainly could have
been a whole lot longer, but I wanted to stick with
sites that seemed most relevant and that would be most
comprehensible to lay readers.

No reply yet. I'll keep you posted on any developments.

--- On Wed, 2/24/10, Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> From: Joel Kahn <jj2kk4@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Information Technology
> To: Mike.Parson@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 4:10 PM
> Dear Representative Parson:
> 
> Each year, the government of the state of
> Missouri makes substantial expenditures on
> hardware and software related to information
> technology. However, it is questionable
> whether the taxpayers in this state are
> receiving the best value for their money in
> this area. Much of the funds currently going
> to Microsoft, and to other companies working
> in a closed and proprietary context, could
> be spent more usefully--or could be saved
> entirely--if the government focused greater
> attention on free and open source technologies.
> 
> I believe that it would be a worthwhile use
> of money and other resources if you were to
> assign at least one of your staff members to
> conducting research in this area. To help
> with this process, I have included below the
> addresses of some web sites that should be
> relevant to such research.
> 
> http://www.opensource.org
> 
> http://www.gnu.org
> 
> http://www.linux.org
> 
> http://opensourceforamerica.org
> 
> http://www.ucmo.edu/cs/facilities/lab.cfm
> 
> http://experts.missouristate.edu/display/csvhelpdesk/linux
> 
> http://mlug.missouri.edu/faq.php
> 
> http://classroomtco.cosn.org/2004_case_studies/missouri.pdf
> 
> http://oa.mo.gov/itsd/motec/classes/LinuxFundamentals.htm
> 
> http://www.cio.ca.gov/Government/IT_Policy/ITPL.html
> 
> http://www.largo.com/department/index.php?fDD=24-0
> 
> http://www.ncose.org
> 
> http://www.schoolforge.net
> 
> http://k12opentech.org
> 
> http://www.doe.in.gov/olt/InACCESS/index.html
> 
> http://www.hosef.org
> 
> http://www.k12ltsp.org/contents.html
> 
> http://www.oracle.com/us/industries/public-sector/index.html
> 
> http://www.redhat.com/solutions/government
> 
> http://www.novell.com/industries/government/ready.html
> 
> If you have any questions regarding this
> matter, please send me an email, and I will
> provide such assistance as I can.
> 
> Thank you for your time.
> 
> Joel Kahn
> Zip Code 65613-1306