London Government Accused Of Open Source Inaction

Mayor Boris Johnson has faced Green Party criticism of his open source commitment - but activists say the real problem is with central government.

A Green Party representative has accused the London government of failing to fully exploit open source software, but activists say the Greater London Authority (GLA) is doing well… at least compared to central government.

There are political advantages in vendor lock-in

Today Matt Asay urges government buyers to support open source, open data and open standards. Why? Because it’s better. Because it promotes competition. Because it gives government flexibility. But after watching government on every level, in various countries, for over half my lifetime, I can tell you the last thing any government wants is to make a decision its successor can overturn.

UK: The Open Source, Open Standards and Reuse Strategy

‘Open Source’ has been one of the most significant cultural developments in ICT over the last two decades.  Products that provide access to the source code that powers the application enables the wider development community to exploit new and innovative solutions to business requirements.  These products are based on open standards and can thus be re-used to solve multiple problems and can be repurposed quickly. 

Traditionally, the public sector has relied on Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) software or bespoke solutions from global providers. This restricts the ability of the public sector to reuse solutions, reduces flexibility to manage assets efficiently and prevents government organisations from switching suppliers. The Open Source, Open Standards, Reuse strategy provides guides on how to use Open Source alternatives that meet public sector requirements. Government already commits to using only open standards for documentation. The ICT strategy will build capability within the public sector to increase the amount of open source code and software in use and make it available for reuse elsewhere.

UK Government policy update supports open source

The UK government has published an updated policy on open source in government. The new policy takes a more aggressive position on government use of open source than the original policy, published in 2004. That document set out five policy points that allowed open source based solutions to be considered alongside proprietary solutions and tried to avoid lock in to proprietary software. The new policy document notes how the 2004 policy has already had effects, such as 50 per cent use of Apache web server within departmental web sites, and the NHS "Spine" migration to a Linux based infrastructure, which will cover 35 per cent of NHS organisations.

Rossz az, aki nyílt forráskódú szoftvereket használ vagy támogat?

Az International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) nevű szövetség azt javasolta az Egyesült Államok kereskedelmi megbízottjának, hogy frissítsék az úgynevezett szerzői jogi feketelistát.

Nokia: a mobil jövője nyitott, ahogy a forráskódunk is

A Nokia megnyitotta világszerte 330 millió készüléken használt mobil operációs rendszerének forráskódját, lehetővé téve a közösségi és kereskedelmi szoftverfejlesztés fellendülését, ezen keresztül pedig saját vezető szerepének biztosítását.

Öt ország nem kaphat nyílt forráskódot

Ellenkezik az amerikai kormány internetes szabadságot hirdető politikájával, és a nyílt forráskód alapelvével is, ennek ellenére a SourceForge portál letiltja az embargóval sújtott országokból érkező letöltéseket.

A nyílt forráskódú programok internetes megosztását és letöltését segítő SourceForge.net portál elkezdte kiszűrni az Iránból, Kubából, Szíriából, Szudánból és Észak-Koreából érkező lekéréseket. Ezekből az országokból tehát nem lehet hozzáférni az ingyenes szoftverekhez.

San Francisco’s official open source policy

The city of San Francisco has made public it’s open source policy for software purchases. In a blog post by the city’s mayor, the new policy requires that the city equally consider open source software while making software purchases.

The highlight of the post was the realization that new and innovative technologies have been created with open source technologies when the government released all its data in open and machine readable formats.
One of the most interesting new applications has been the city government’s integration with Twitter and how it is leading the city government to receive reports about broken civic amenities and fix these problems in realtime.

Source: The Indian Digital Government

USA: Proposed Guidelines For Open Government Plans

Open Source for America (OSFA) represents more than 1,500 businesses, associations, non-governmental organizations, communities, and academic/research institutions who have come together to support and guide federal efforts to make the U.S. Government more open through the use of free and open source software. We applaud the Obama Administration’s Open Government Initiative and the December 8th Directive requiring all federal agencies to promulgate Open Government Plans. We offer the following recommendations for essential elements that belong in every Open Government Plan:

Open source in 2010

Is 2010 the "year of open source"? Probably not, but by the end of the year expect to see open source software everywhere.

EU: European Parliament restart workgroup on open source software

A number of members of the European Parliament are about to start an informal cross party working group on 'new media, free and open source software and open information society'. The intergroup is expected to begin in February, with the support of the European People's Party (EPP), the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (Alde) and the European Greens. 

 

Nyílt forráskód: Magyarország a középmezőnyben

A Red Hat és a Georgia Technológiai Intézet nyilvánosságra hozta a Nyílt Forráskód Index (Open Source Index) elnevezésű közös tanulmányukat, amely a világ 75 országának nyílt forráskóddal kapcsolatos tevékenységét és a nyílt forráskód elterjedésének lehetőségét vizsgálta.

The Cost of Open Source Software (2008)

What is the meaning of open source software freedom? The interesting thing is that these open source software are written by many people without any expectations (financial at least). I'm starting to think that so many people from so many different countries have never before actively cooperated and shared like this before.

The true cost of migrating to open source

Microsoft’s sleight of hand has made the real financial advantages of open source appear to vanish, says Mark Taylor.