Phew!
Just when you thought I’d not shut up about the open source thing …
I get a reply or two from the councillors I emailled!!
I don’t know if you’ve been following this, but on Thursday I managed to email all of Brentwood councillors and our local MP, Eric Pickles, to ask whether they thought Brentwood Council should be using more open source software; you can read the text of that email, here.
And so far, I’ve had a fairly good response, I think.
Councillor Joan Holmes immediately forwarded a copy of the email to Brentwood Council’s IT department, and let me, and everyone I’d emailed, know straight away. On top of that, Councillor’s Michæl Golding, Linda Golding, and William Lloyd have all been in to Brentwood Council’s IT department, to bounce idea’s around.
I’ll be honest, I was also wondering if they’d also been there to ask someone what on earth I was talking about.
But it’s easy to be cynical about politicians.
I also had a reply to the open email I sent to the Brentwood and Ongar Liberal Democrats, and to Brentwood’s constituency Labour party, after not hearing from them. But, as Brentwood West Councillor, Karen Chilvers, most councillors have full time jobs and families to deal, as well as having any other extra curricula activities to deal with. Saying that, she’s also forwarded it to the IT department, and talked it over with Councillor Kendall, Brentwood Council’s Liberal Democrat leader.
I also had one back from Councillor Le-Surf`, one of only two of Labour councillors on Brentwood Council.
Which was the only one seemingly not too worried about following this up. Although, given there’s only two Labour councillors …
Just as a thought for everyone, I had a responce, literally a minute or to, ago, from Linda Golding.
ReplyDeleteHere’s what she said.
“Paul: In response to our exchange of emails this week, I can confirm that, as promised, I met with the Head of IT yesterday afternoon and will have a statement for you during the early part of the coming week. In the meantime, I can confirm that BBC do utilise open software but the situation is more complex hence my request for a more formal response. I can also confirm that the whole subject is regulalry under review. I hope you find this satisfactory. Rgds., LINDA.”
Ooh, just as a follow up, I had an email from David Kendall, the Brentwood and Ongar Lib-Dem Leader; – here’s the text …
ReplyDeleteHi Paul
I saw your original e-mail and the quick response from Cllr Joan Holmes. As Joan had already followed it through with the IT dept I didn't duplicate her efforts and get involved myself. The matter should now come to the relevant Committee / Panel and will be discussed by all members.
Thank you for highlighting the issue.
Regards
David
Cllr David Kendall
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group
Brentwood Borough Council
Hopefully, I should be hearing today from someone.