Open source for governments

January 18, 2006 D. H. McKee

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Looking back, the inflection point for global Linux adoption began in Europe about four years ago. In 2001, the German parliament adopted a resolution that declared the government should use open-source software â..whenever doing so will reduce costsâ.. Two years later, a technology advisory group to the European Commission issued a report that called open-source software â..a great opportunityâ. for the region that could â..change the rules in the information technology industryâ., reducing Europeâ..s reliance on imports. Since the German uprising, more than 125 national open-source policies have been proposed worldwide.
This triggered off a movement amongst countries with a socialistic background, notably Russia, China and Cuba. Even Latin America, comprising of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and -Venezuela are shaping to be one of the worldâ..s fastest-growing regions for Linux adoption, so much so that Brazil has announced a three-year plan to switch 80 per cent of its government systems to Linux and funded the project properly to accomplish it. The Venezuelan government gave a decree that all government institutions in the country must present a migration plan to move to open source software by October this year.
The above countries represent a mix of socialistic, capitalistic and even mixed economies. Even in first world governments such as the United States, Europe and Japan, open source is making inroads.
For instance, Linux now helps run 38 out of 50 American statehouses. The penetration levels are comparable to Germany. This also implies that Linux is not just being used by poorer countries.
Computerworld Singapore – Open source for governments

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