How to promote Python in the Federal government?

Bob Ballard rballard_99 at yahoo.com
Mon Mar 3 13:13:44 EST 2003


Note that on this site:
http://www.python-in-business.org/success
(scroll down) they say that two fed organizations are using it.

Bob

"Stephen Ferg" <steve at ferg.org> wrote in message
news:b16e4ef7.0303030843.1dfc2aea at posting.google.com...
> Currently, the level of Python-awareness in the Federal government (or
> at least at my agency in Washington DC) is extremely low.  Most
> programmers and managers aren't even aware of the existence of a
> programming language named "Python".  Most managers are barely aware
> of open-source software, and would never switch to open-source from
> Microsoft for fear of "lack of support"!  A few of our technical
> people are very enthusiastic about open-source -- but for most of
> them, "open-source" equates only to Linux, Apache, and Perl.
>
> I'm trying to figure out if there is a way to change this situation.
>
> I thought of running a sort of "Python awareness" campaign, but (if
> conducted electronically) that would probably be indistinguishable
> from spam.
>
> I thought of trying to create a Federal Python Users Group (FedPy?).
> The purpose of FedPy would be to raise awareness of Python and its
> capabilities among Federal agencies, and to (at least) provide a
> membership list that might help Federal Pythonistas (employees and
> contractors) to know about and communicate with each other.  But user
> groups don't seem to flourish here -- the local Python/Zope user group
> is moribund.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> -- Steve Ferg
>
> <name>  Stephen Ferg    </name>
> <email>  ferg_s at bls.gov   </email>
> <phone> 202-691-7257 </phone>
> <address>
> Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room 5110
> 2 Mass. Ave. NE
> Washington, DC 20212-0001
> USA
> </address>






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