The licensing freedom that is the main point of FLOSS allows for free redistribution of software and in many cases of training material as well. Management can increase staff members’ expertise and overall project acceptance by taking advantage of this openness, providing users with Linux Live CDs or live USB sticks (which require no hard disk installation) as well as printed material. Users can be encouraged to take them home and play with them to increase their comfort with FLOSS.
Setting up comprehensive information repositories, probably in coordination with other public agencies with the same interests, will also help users probe further. In particular, documents that explain not only the main characteristics of the FLOSS solutions used, but also their limitations and advantages, will help motivated users. FAQs, success stories, and links to websites will show users that their deployment is not an island, but is related to other similar projects worldwide.
One of the problems to avoid, when asking for a wrenching change in behavior and attitudes, is the perception of isolation. Luckily, one of the main strengths of FLOSS is how it facilitates the replication of solutions and the spread of good practices. Therefore, it is important to establish meeting points, both physical and virtual, where people with responsibility for FLOSS deployments can meet and share experiences.
These points can be used not only by public agency employees, but also by companies providing them with FLOSS-based solutions, thus helping to cancel the impression that there is no support for those solutions. Having a place that developers from the FLOSS community can visit will enable them to understand the specific requirements of public agencies.
Those meeting points should also include repositories, both of software solutions and of case studies. These can spread the benefits of experience and propel the reuse of solutions.