I tried leaving a post on your blog entry about our use of MSoft
technology at Christian Aid. Either WordPress didn’t like me or you’re
moderating the comments. Hoping it’s the former, I thought I’d drop you
a line.

It seems many in the OSS community have read the BBC news article which
was a vastly compressed version of the radio programme. We do take an
increasingly pro-MSoft stance at Christian Aid which I will try to
explain, but that doesn’t mean we are anti-open source. I think too
often the argument is presented as a binary yes / no approach – you are
either for OSS and against M$… or on the dark side 😉

If you listen to the radio programme, we’re making a number of points.
The first and most obvious one is that organisations choose the
applications and operating environment that best suit core business
needs. We use MS on the desktop and for a number of enterprise
applications, but we – currently – use Linux and Plone for some of our
web applications.

In choosing the best route, a number of factors have to be taken into
account. Price is an important one and the preferential pricing
charities recieve from Microsoft and others does have a huge impact.
Perhaps more important though is cost of ownership – technical staff
capable of developing and maintaining open source applications are more
expensive for us to hire than, say, support staff with MS skills. This
route means that we do not have to employ and maintain a large IT staff.

Then there is the opportunity cost of open source development. Remember
this radio programme was actually about the software staff are using in
the field rather than the server environment at Christian Aid. Why
develop something over several months when configuring off the shelf
software can achieve the desired result in weeks or months? The MS
SharePoint system at Christian Aid was configured, disaster tested and
live for 500+ staff within three months. Compare that to a small Plone
project which took the best part of a year for us and the benefits are
obvious.

You go on to say that as a non-profit we are unconcerned with profit and
are spending donations unwisely. Quite the contrary – profit is
everything for us. I’m interested in maximising the difference between
costs and income – so that we can grant as much as possible to projects
that assist the most vulnerable in society. Only 1% of our income is
spent on administration.

Of course, it is not just about cost. Key to all of this is helping
Christian Aid staff to have decision support systems that make a
tangible difference to their work. In the event of a major disaster,
we’re able to have a team site (a collaboration area for all involved in
responding to that emergency) live, configured and populated with all
the necessary information within 1 hour of the disaster being called.
For me, that’s more interesting that what platform we’ve used to do
that.

As for outsourcing, we do outsource in a very dramatic way – Christian
Aid is a grant giving organisation that works with grassroots
organisations in over 50 countries. We also outsource software support
where it is appropriate to do so.

Incompetent? Well it’s the first time that has been levelled at me.
Maybe it’ll happen more as a result of this programme. Whatever, I can
tell you that (like a number of my colleagues) I came from the
commercial sector, work at least 12 hour days and put every ounce of
what I do into helping Christian Aid achieve what it does. There are no
comfy offices here and certainly no hangers-on.

I could go on, and no doubt you will find holes in what I’ve said.
Nevertheless, if you do ever find yourself with half an hour to spend in
London – do get in touch. We’d love to show you an organisation and set
of people that are somewhat different to the picture you have painted in
your blog.

All the best – Steven