[balug-talk] Linux computers for the police! With Link

[Bill Ward]

Another factor that isn't being discussed in this whole Linux for SFPD
thread is the fact that getting more life out of their old computers
is going to make it harder for them to do what they really need to do,
buy new computers.  Government agencies need to justify the need for
capital expenses like that, and when they can justify the need,
immense amounts of cash can flow to pay for them.  I'm sure someone at
the SFPD has been haranguing Sacramento and Washington for grants for
new IT equipment, citing the very problems we are discussing fixing
with Linux.  And eventually, they'll probably get a grant for a really
state of the art system (that will be obsolete in two years, but not
replaced for another twenty).  But if we fix those problems with
Linux, they won't be able to make the argument that the need is
desperate, so they won't get the grant for several more years to come.

What, me, cynical?