This ComputerWeekly article explains the saga that was Bristol Council’s open source strategy. It’s a very interesting read for anyone who wants to see the dominance of the “fossilised” proprietary software model not only challenged but dismantled. Thank god for Mark Taylor and other high-profile open source champions who take on this depressing David and Goliath fight.

Note the reference towards the end of the article to the narrowness of school IT teaching – something HLUG is working on, one primary school at a time, via its education outreach programme this October, and which is a real canker in nurturing the next generation of IT talent. Not only is IT teaching stifled at the moment, it’s not as if the children find it interesting. Ironically, my kids have all found IT one of the most boring subjects as they get no freedom to really interact with the technology.

And speaking of irony, that last paragraph – really, it says it all.