Open Source never means Free of Charge unless you are a solus developer developing for yourself. And then the cost is your time. Open Source just means that the infrastructure is not charged for.
Government (etc) projects tend to involve software that is hand crafted to do things that the commissioning teams deny can be done with off the shelf elements despite massive evidence to the contrary. They also tend not to deliver the facilities and benefits stated. They go back to the old days where computers were a major mystery and required naked sacrifices at dawn in order to keep the tape drives turning.
They were fun days! I used to work on one such project for the Home Office. Oddly ours actually delivered.
On 25 Aug 2011, at 13:09, Cristiano Bianchi | Keepthinking wrote:
> I thought this may be of interest, although definitely off topic. It says a lot of public cuts and related issues for cultural institutions.
>
> While we are all here debating how to implement complex websites, using open source software, volunteer resources and tiny budgets, the likes of Lambeth Council (where I live) are happily tendering for a whopping joint implementation of Oracle 12, with between £74 and £88.5 MILLIONS. £88,500,000. Yes, I though I was missing a dot somewhere, but I did check multiple sources.
>
> While In the meantime cutting positions for lollipop ladies through the borough.
>
> http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/FF167AD5-9B99-4348-BC61-B9FE4E94F03D/0/EoIOracle12Implementation.pdf
>
> Best, Cristiano
>
>
>
> Cristiano Bianchi
> Keepthinking
>
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