Open Source Government: good-will needed
Every Government is supposed to function for the benefit of its citizens, delivering services that help economic growth and enable social activities. Since IT is just a cost center, and considering the possible multiplying effects, many see Open Source as the natural choice.
Good will by mricon
Looking at the North-American experiences, or European ones, I am wondering what did they miss, and how possibly the new ones could eventually be really successful.
Matt calls for leadership, I think that first we need politicians with good-will, willing to put their intellectual potential to work for the overall desires of the general public.
What do you think?
Roberto Galoppini 8:10 am on July 7, 2007 Permalink
David A. Wheeler forwarded me the following links:
Elzeviro » Fighting windmills: Open Source and the public sector 12:36 am on July 9, 2007 Permalink
[…] A new research paper on Open Source and government is out, with a few notable comments from Matt and Roberto, among others. Interesting read, but I have to confess that as of late I feel increasingly tired and demotivated when it comes to OSS in the public sector. I’m really fed up with useless forges, forgotten observatories and hopeless committees going nowhere, and I don’t see how the situation is going to change in the near future. […]
Gianugo Rabellino: Fighting windmills: Open Source and the public sector | Server software 2:18 am on July 9, 2007 Permalink
[…] A new research paper on Open Source and government is out, with a few notable comments from Matt and Roberto, among others. Interesting read, but I have to confess that as of late I feel increasingly tired and demotivated when it comes to OSS in the public sector. I’m really fed up with useless forges, forgotten observatories and hopeless committees going nowhere, and I don’t see how the situation is going to change in the near future. […]
][ stefano maffulli » Free Software acquisition by governments 9:04 am on July 13, 2007 Permalink
[…] Free Software acquisition by governments It’s recent news that the Italian Camera dei Deputati (the lower chamber of the Parliament) has started a project to offer support for GNU/Linux on desktops for those that ask it. I hope to see Pietro Folena’s laptop equipped with Free Sw next time I meet him 🙂 From what I understood also the backend infrastructure of the chamber will also migrate to GNU/Linux. The big news, IMHO, is that the technical helpdesk has been prepared to support GNU/Linux, which is an important achievement. I’m one of those that believe that Free/Libre Software shouldn’t need laws that mandate it. What is most needed IMHO, is that CIO of public administrations are trained and prepared to deal with Free Software acquisition. Tenders to “buy” software often contain provisions that cut out Free Software based solutions (as it was the case fought and won by Assoli). We need leadership (as Matt says) but we also need lobbyists and think tanks that are strong and credible to support those leaders because it’s a war out there, as Massachusetts demonstrated. FSFE’s Freedom Task Force training goes in that direction, but more more more is needed and should be done. I think that good-will, as Roberto puts it, is the same thing as leadership in this case. BTW: DoD (Naval Research Lab) does and did “C”. At least one example is the project TOR, The Onion Router. Oddly enough, DoD shared development costs with those liberals of EFF 🙂 […]
Increasing Government Interest in Free-Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) | 6:47 am on November 20, 2007 Permalink
[…] Anyway, it’s not just one issue about FLOSS in one magazine. Here’s more evidence it’s not just me – on July 5, 2007, the article Open Source Government: good-will needed was posted by Roberto Galoppini’s Commercial Open Source Software blog. He points in turn to various articles, including Matt Asay’s “Open source in government: Leadership needed”, which then leads you back to a very interesting research paper: “Open-Source Collaboration in the Public Sector: The Need for Leadership and Value” by Michael P. Hamel. There’s lots of interesting discussion in those articles about how governments can use FLOSS, and in particular how governments can use FLOSS components and approaches more effectively. I’ll throw in my own two cents here. I would certainly agree that leadership is important in any project, including FLOSS projects; the leadership of Linus Torvalds of the Linux kernel is well-documented, for example. But there are different kinds and levels of leadership. Roberto Galoppini says, “I think that first we need politicians with good-will, willing to put their intellectual potential to work for the overall desires of the general public…”; while that’s good, often what’s important is the ability to lead concept into practice. It’s easy to “lead” by saying words, but I think that often what’s needed is the kind of leadership that rolls up its sleeves and makes actual projects produce useful results. Focusing on specific, measurable products can often get better results. Certainly politicians with goodwill are a good thing, but they can provide value primarily by providing “cover” for those who actually do the hands-on leading of projects, but the latter make or break such efforts. […]