IP: Open source in government

[David Farber <dfarber () earthlink net>]

Copy me please. 


-----Original Message-----
From: "Tim O'Reilly" <tim () oreilly com>
Date: Mon, 01 Jul 2002 09:00:12 
To: Dave Farber <farber () cis upenn edu>
Subject: Open source in government

Dave,

I've recently had two speakers for the upcoming Open Source Convention
(http://conferences.oreilly.com/os2002) who were planning to talk about the
use of open source in government suddenly cancel on me, saying that they
were in trouble with their bosses.

I've written an article about this (actually, it's the second page of a
longer article about how open source shifts power from software vendors to
users), that some of your readers might find interesting.  It's at at
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2002/06/28/vendor.html .

But I'm also looking for more information about what's going on right now
with open source in government.  There's clearly a lot of support, but
increasing signs of pushback.  I'm wondering if this is the result of some
of the recent Microsoft lobbying and FUD (see the article for details), or
if something else is going on.

I'd love it if your readers could shed any light.  I also do think that
there's a good opportunity here for some investigative journalists to check
in to some of the lobbying that's going on.

-- 
Tim O'Reilly @ O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.
1005 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol, CA 95472
1-707-829-0515 http://www.oreilly.com, http://tim.oreilly.com


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