[CLUE-Talk] ARTICLE/OPINION - An easy way to improve Colorado's economy

[Steve Fry]

An easy way to improve Colorado's economy - Ed Quillen
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E150%257E1123977%257E,00.html

Tuesday, January 21, 2003 - In his State of the State address last week,
Gov. Bill Owens observed that our state government is in a financial
bind. On account of TABOR, raising taxes is almost impossible. Our
state, unlike the federal government, has a constitution that prohibits
deficit spending. 

The only remaining course is to reduce expenditures. As a concerned
citizen, I've come up with a plan that will not only reduce spending,
but also improve the state's economy.

Start with computers. I haven't been able to find a census of computers
owned by the state government, but in 1999 Colorado had 62,000
"full-time equivalent" state employees, according to the 2001 edition of
the Statistical Abstract of the United States.

It seems safe to assume that there's at least one state computer per
state employee, and that the computers have an average life cycle of
three years, so the state probably purchases about 20,000 new computers
every year. It also seems safe to assume that at least 95 percent of
these come with a Microsoft operating system and that at least half of
them come with Microsoft applications like Works, Word and Office.

So it would appear that the average state computer might have about $200
worth of Microsoft software. Run that across 20,000 new computers a
year, and that's $4 million a year that leaves our state to enrich
people in the state of Washington.

If the state just switched to Linux (or free BSD, for that matter), most
of that money would stay here.  Further, with the state setting the
example, many local governments (162,000 employees in 1999) would
doubtless follow suit.

The transition would not be entirely smooth, of course; there would be a
need for new software and trained technicians. With a market in
Colorado, our state would develop a pool of expertise that would restore
our status as a hub of high-tech. And, as we grew our pool of expertise,
our private enterprises would feel more comfortable moving away from
Microsoft - again, less money to Washington and more money here.

Let me confess that I use a Linux system for my daily work, but I am not
promoting it out of self-interest. As long as most of the world uses
Windows and its associated programs, then most of the viruses, worms,
trojan horses and other computer vexations will be written to attack
Microsoft systems. More Linux users would just make Linux a more
attractive target for these jerks.

Thus, on a personal level, the more Windows users, the better for me
because it makes my personal computer more reliable, and I can get more
work done in a day.

But as a concerned citizen, I have to think about what would be best for
our state, and escaping from Windows and moving to open-source software
would reduce governmental expenses and improve our economy.

Indeed, just the effort would improve our economy, even if Windows and
other Microsoft products continued to infest Colorado computers after
all was said and done.

Consider this, from a Dec. 9, 2002, story in the Wall Street Journal:
"In India, where at least one state government endorsed Linux recently,
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates last month announced a $400 million gift
of donated software and business-development aid."

That story went on to say that "In South Africa, a Microsoft offer to
provide software for 32,000 schools came just days after that country's
National Advisory Council on Innovation called for the government to
adopt open-source software to build local programming skills and avoid
sending hard currency to the U.S. to pay for Windows."

So if Colorado started making noises about doing the same thing - moving
to open-source software like Linux to build local skills and reduce
currency exports - we could expect Microsoft to respond in the same way.
Millions of Microsoft dollars would flow into Colorado, just as happened
in India and South Africa.

There's no way we can lose with an announcement that the state will
consider shifting to Linux.

If the state government makes the change, we save money, develop a local
reservoir of expertise, and become a center for software developers,
some of whom might strike it rich.

The other possibility is that the state government would get bought off
by Microsoft donations. That would mean fewer dollars departing from our
state, leaving more in circulation here.

In either case, Colorado comes out ahead. So I don't know why the
governor didn't propose this last week. It could be that he's been busy
promoting his secretary of technology, Marc Holtzman, for the presidency
of Colorado State University - so busy that they just haven't had time
to talk about technology and Colorado's economy.

[Ed Quillen of Salida (ed at cozine.com) is a former newspaper editor whose
column appears Tuesday and Sunday.]


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