[Reader-list] Governments push open-source software

[Steef Heus]

Hi,
just picked this from the net. See for full (interesting) article:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6996393.html?tag=pt.msnbc.feed..ne_6996
393

Steef

By Paul Festa
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
August 29, 2001, 4:00 a.m. PT
Governments around the world have found a new rallying cry--"Software
libre!"--and Microsoft is working overtime to quell it.

A recent global wave of legislation is compelling government agencies, and
in some cases government-owned companies, to use open-source or free
software unless proprietary software is the only feasible option.

This legal movement, earliest and most pronounced in Brazil, but also
showing signs of catching on elsewhere in Latin America, Europe and Asia, is
finding ready converts as governments struggle to close sometimes vast
digital divides with limited information-technology budgets. So far, there
is no evidence that similar legislation is being considered anywhere in the
United States, experts said.

Software libre
Several foreign governments have considered mandating the use of open-source
or free software.

•  The French Parliament proposed a bill concerned with both the
availability of source code for software used by the government and with the
use of open standards. Observers say the government is blocking the bill
pending European movement on the matter, particularly as it relates to
patent issues.

•  The Argentina Parliament reviewed a proposal that mandates, with some
exceptions, the use of free software in all government offices and in
government-owned companies.

•  In Germany, the government has funded efforts by the German Unix Users
Group (GUUG) to adapt the free privacy software called GnuPG--analogous to
the proprietary PGP privacy software--for use by non-U.S. government
entities. The project specifically cites U.S. export restrictions as a
reason why PGP itself is inadequate.

•  The European Commission has solicited recommendations from the European
Working Group on Free Software, which last year raised the possibility that
the EC could mandate the use of free software "whenever feasible" but
stopped short of recommending that it do so.

•  In Spain, the Canary Islands Parliament recently approved a
multipartisan, nonbinding resolution urging the use of free software by the
government.

•  In Asia, governments have acted by appropriations rather than legislation
to limit the use and impact of proprietary software. In South Korea, public
universities squeezed by the region's 1997 financial crunch found themselves
unable to purchase software. In response, the Ministry of Information and
Communication last year set up training programs for GNU Linux for systems
administration.

•  In China, the government has moved to install the open-source Linux
operating system provided by Red Flag in an attempt to avoid reliance on
U.S. companies, particularly Microsoft.