An article by Shane Petersen in the publication
Government Technology
provides an update on
how government agencies are using Open Source Software (OSS).
OSS has finally achieved an aura of legitimacy, paving the way for government agencies to pursue higher levels of OSS integration...OSS has moved from fringe applications to core business functions because more enterprises now trust its stability.
The article reviews the progress of OSS-related government initiatives such as the Government Open Code Collaborative (
GOCC) was created to encourage code-sharing by government entities. Also mentioned is the Government Open Source Advisory Committee (
GOSAC) which consists of prominent OSS experts who have volunteered to help national, state and local government officials understand, use, develop and integrate OSS.
Peterson offers an example of a government agency using an OSS platform to develop a tool and then offering the tool under the GNU General Public License (
GPL) :
In April 2004, the [Dept. of Labor] became the first Cabinet-level federal agency to release a software product under the general public license (GPL). The product, Workforce Connections, is the first tool licensed by a Cabinet agency to any organization in the public and private sectors for use at no charge.
Workforce Connections is a content management system (CMS) based on
Zope -- an OSS content management framework. (It appears to be similar in function to
Plone -- another OSS CMS based on Zope that I covered in a presentation on developing an
open source content management strategy .) Workforce Connections is being used by several government agencies including the Federal Disability Information Initiative, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Department of Labor.
