[OS:N:] Another great Tom Adelstein article

[Jeremy Hogan <jhogan redhat com>]

The Open Source Dilemma for Governments

"If someone told you a hole existed in the competitive landscape for a
large and highly addressable US market segment you would call them a
niche miner. If I told you the cream of that niche totaled $56 billion
and could be addressed in a three to five year time frame you might
wonder how you missed it. Don't feel bad, it seems that the major
computer companies have missed it too.

In a nutshell, the local government software market has not drawn large
software firms. Also, independent software vendors (ISV's) have failed
to adequately satisfy this market's needs as they lack the resources to
serve the large geographical base. People have viewed this market as
fragmented, requiring too much one-off customization with long sales
cycles. Since the tragedy of September 11, 2001 those barriers and the
poor economics of serving this sector have changed. You might call this
a new opportunity..."

(more)
http://consultingtimes.com/osgov.html