[SGVLUG] Open Source Software and the City of Los Angeles

[Robin Rowe]

An update on the City of Los Angeles OSS initiative that was announced in 
February. The short of it is that the city has not launched a Linux OSS 
pilot project and the city IT department says Linux could offer no cost 
savings. Regardless, several city departments have installed Linux without 
the support of the initiative.

The ITGS committee responsible for the city's OSS initiative has had some 
changes. Councilmember Eric Garcetti is no longer on the committee. 
Councilmember Janice Hahn is the new chair. I met with Hahn's legislative 
director Jenny Chavez last week. I'd hoped a staff change could mean faster 
action, but the plan and rate of progress seem unchanged.

In February the city council tasked the IT department to study OSS to seek 
innovative ways to cut the IT budget. If IT succeeds at finding any savings 
the reward will be a funding cut to give the money to another department 
(police). As might be expected, progress at finding substantial 
self-inflicted budget cuts has been slow. The council could have ordered the 
budget cuts and compelled IT to move to OSS in February. By passing a motion 
to study OSS by the department least likely to embrace it, some politicians 
have had the benefit of positive PR without really doing anything.

My note to Jenny Chavez, enclosed below, covers the facts.

Robin

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Robin Rowe" <Robin.Rowe at MovieEditor.com>
To: "Jenny Chavez" <JChavez at council.lacity.org>
Cc: "Councilmember Janice Hahn" <hahn at council.lacity.org>; "Roger Fernandez"
<Roger.Fernandez at lacity.org>; "Josh Kamensky" <JKamensk at COUNCIL.LACITY.ORG>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: Open Source Software and the City of Los Angeles


> Jenny,
>
> Thank you for meeting with me last week so I could brief you on
> opportunities for the city to realize cost savings through Open Source
> Software (OSS) and Linux. I hope you are able to bring the relevant facts
> to the new ITGS chair Janice Hahn. You said you would wait to proceed
> until a report from ITA was in committee, but since speaking to you I've
> found out that a report has already been filed:
>
> http://clkrep.lacity.org/councilfiles/05-0182_rpt_ita.pdf
>
> Although this report is dated March 17th, nobody from the city had told me
> it existed until now. You may not have seen it either. I know you're busy
> so allow me to highlight what the report says.
>
> The city is using open source software now, but ITA doesn't think Linux
> can save any money. From the report, "Due to the way operating systems are
> licensed, there has not been any cost savings in using Linux and ITA would
> not expect there to be cost savings in the future." This opinion stands in
> contrast to the experience of the City of Garden Grove that saved over
> $300k in their conversion to Linux. Of 37 city departments that ITA
> surveyed, 22% reported open source usage. (The number stated in the report
> is actually negative -- as 78% not using open source.) The report further
> states, "Linux is used by 3 Departments with 2 additional Departments in
> the process of evaluating its use."
>
> The stated recommendation of the report is that, "ITA work with the Mayor,
> City Council, and City Departments to identify specific pilot projects in
> which to evaluate whether there would be cost savings." As you know, the
> OSS pilot project ITA has recommended and has underway is limited to a few
> copies of OpenOffice for Windows. This plan seems to differ from the
> ambitious goals outlined in the ITGS press release of February 2, 2005,
> and the ITGS motion itself:
>
> http://www.lacity.org/council/cd13/cd13press/cd13cd13press13227121_02022005.pdf
> http://www.boingboing.net/2005/02/02/_la_city_councilman_.html
> http://www.boingboing.net/images/OpenSourceMotion.pdf
>
> Speaking of Garden Grove, I heard today from City of Garden Grove IS
> Manager Charles Kalil. He says, "We continue to use and have success with
> OSS." He says that his whitepaper is a bit dated now, but still shows how
> extensively they use OSS:
>
> http://www.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/departments/admin_services/linuxwpaper_html
>
> You've said that ITGS is too busy with more pressing matters to give OSS
> much attention before November. I was invited to speak as an OSS expert at
> a city hall hearing on February 22nd, 2005. Many in the open source
> community have been waiting since February to hear how the City of Los
> Angeles is proceeding with its open source initiative. I'll let everyone
> know about the city's IT department report and progress to date.
>
> Thanks for your interest Jenny.
>
> Robin
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Robin.Rowe at MovieEditor.com   Beverly Hills, California
> www.LinuxMovies.org - Motion picture technology and Linux
>