Open Source for Gov
From Govit
Contents |
Government Use of Open Source Solutions: An Introduction
History of Open Source in Government
Current Situation
Currently there are three central document formats in existence. Microsoft Office and two large open source standards:
- The OASIS/ISO standard known as Open Document Format (ODF)
- Chinese-developed Uniform Document Format (UOF)
There is a possibility that the Chinese-developed Uniform Document Format (UOF) and the OASIS/ISO standard known as Open Document Format (ODF) could merge sometime in the future, which could be a significant consolidation effort for open standards.
Popular Open Source Software
Here are five applications that have found popularity in government offices. the links will take you to external sites for those applications.
- Wordpress - This application is one of the most widely used and supported blogging tool on the internet.
- [http://www.oscommerce.com OsCommerce - This Ecommerce Shopping application has all the major features expected in an expensive shopping cart application, including full search, product reviews, and bestseller lists.
- Drupal - Some say it has the cleanest look and feel of the open source content management systems. Also has a great content manager for search engine results.
- Openoffice.org - Interact and trade files with Microsoft Office users, but this isn't a Microsoft product. It's a full-fledge and powerful office suite.
- PHPList - A management system for the coordination and distribution of opt-in email. Interact with thousands of recipients.
Latest Open Source News
- Current open source and Linux news from Linux.com
- Reviews of open source solutions reviews from Technetra
- Open source blog from CBR - Europe
- Aggregated open source news from multiple resources
- Press releases from Oasis - government open source
- News from SourceForge - open source projects
Advice
This issue is closely related to Information technology governance because enterprise decision must be made before embarking on an open source path.
Related Research and Links
- NASA makes some of the software it develops for its space missions available to the open sorce community. Details are available at the NASA Ames Open Source Software site.
- NOAA offers open source Java solutions from its Earth System Research Lab. Most are built to interact with geographic information system data sets.
- NetAction makes an interesting case for "Government Promotion of Open source Software."
- Does anyone know anything about this organization? the Federal OpenSource Alliance.
This page needs to be expanded. If you know about this technology area and how the government buys and uses this technology, please feel free to add to this page. Please make sure that all entries are free from political ideology and that your entries are factual and documented with external references.
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