Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003 [LWN.net]

From:		"Tony Stanco" <Tony@egovos.org>
To:		<lwn@lwn.net>
Subject:		Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003
Date:		Fri, 18 Apr 2003 06:34:56 -0400
Cc:		"Tony Stanco" <stanco@seas.gwu.edu>


Request For Submissions.

The Center of Open Source & Government
announces that it will publish:

The Open Source Reference Book 2003
[What Local/National Governments, the
Defense Establishment, and The Global
1000 Need To Know About Open Source Software]

This is an Open Source resource book targeting
the 20,000 IT power users around the world.

The Reference Book will provide a Who's Who 
and Who's Doing What in Open Source.

The Reference Book will provide IT power users
with profiles and contact information on: 

- Open Source companies 
- Open Source vendors 
- Open Source integrators 
- Open Source consultants 
- Open Source resellers 
- Open Source government projects/policies 
- Open Source corporate projects/policies 
- Open Source community projects 
- Open Source academic/national laboratory projects 

It will also: 

- provide a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) list
  of Open Source software to identify mature and 
  useable Open Source projects 
- list what Open Source software is NIAP or Common
  Criteria evaluated 
- summarize important government and corporate Open
  Source policy statements made during the year 
- highlight important Open Source conferences 
- provide an Open Source Year in Review section, 
  cataloging Open Source milestones, including a
  list of published whites papers, books and other
  important events 

The Center of Open Source and Government invites you
to provide relevant information to be included in the
first annual edition of the Open Source Reference Book
to be published in time for our 3rd Open Source in 
Government Conference in Paris, France on November 
24-26, 2003.

To be considered for inclusion in the Reference Book,
please complete the questions at
http://www.egovos.org/ref_book.html before May 31, 2003.

For more information, please contact us at 
Book@eGovOS.org and go to www.egovos.org.

Best regards,

Tony Stanco
Founding Director
The Center of Open Source & Government

Associate Director
Open Source and eGovernment
Cyber Security Policy and Research Institute
George Washington University

(Log in to post comments)

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 18, 2003 22:18 UTC (Fri) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

I'd like to request that Freedom get a mention.

Governments shouldn't be afraid of Freedom and neither should IT Execs.

It can be argued that and exec who adopts the use of software (s)he does
not have the freedom to change has lost control of a part of the company.

...and a government that answers to a company, when it comes to the software
it uses, sounds like the tail wagging the dog.

Ciaran O'Riordan
(I think most of the employees of the FSF should also get a mention, David
Turner and Eben Moglen in particular for their legal advice.)

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 19, 2003 5:43 UTC (Sat) by BrucePerens (subscriber, #2510) [Link]

Ciaran,

Can I count on your help in assembling the appropriate data, and the contextual material explaining why these people are important?

Thanks

Bruce

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 19, 2003 12:48 UTC (Sat) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

Bruce, good to hear that you are involved.

I'm a little confused though.

I went to the site and was given 8 options, each one was a link to a form where I could fill in info about a Research Lab, or an OpenSource/Free Software Project, but I didn't see a way to give info about an individual.

Also, each form gives a line of questioning that assumes the reader is a manager or developer of the topical project/building. My only official role is that I am the maintainer of the GNU (system) Accounting Utils. (Not an overly important package to business users.)

I would like to make myself available as a reference or reviewer for this book, I believe I have a good knowledge of a wide range of Free Software packages, documents, and personalities. Is such a role of any use?

Thanks for your time.
Ciaran O'Riordan

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 19, 2003 15:44 UTC (Sat) by BrucePerens (subscriber, #2510) [Link]

It's no surprise that what you want to do doesn't fit the form :-)

I'll call Tony on Monday and discuss how to fit in the information we'd be interested in.

Bruce

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 20, 2003 16:47 UTC (Sun) by JosefSpillner (guest, #10768) [Link]

Could we please cut the 'defense establishment' off your list?
Freedom and Military are mutually exclusive. I (and many others) work hard to
reach on of them, while avoiding the other one.
While there are lots of computers in use in defense departments, the term is also
redundant (part of the government) and in no way more important than health
care organizations or educational institutions.

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 21, 2003 6:35 UTC (Mon) by gurulabs (subscriber, #10753) [Link]

"Freedom and Military are mutually exclusive"

...r e s i s t i n g strong temptation to write a big response to this...

1
2
3

Short response: Ummm no, they are not. In fact quite the opposite.

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 21, 2003 14:47 UTC (Mon) by adulau (guest, #1131) [Link]

The four freedoms of Free Software are quite clear.

(http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html)

Free Software can be used everywhere and that's why Freedom is so important.

You can build a nuclear weapon using Free Software or a hospital...

Request for Submissions for Open Source Reference Book 2003

Posted Apr 22, 2003 0:02 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

(...trying to avoid writing a long post...)

First, this discussion is moot since the 'defense establishment' is not the sole target audience for this book.

Second, this discussion is moot since people who value Freedom should want to discuss threats to Freedom.

Third, I'd like anti-abortion groups, American Replicans, religious orders, gun owners, and britney spears stricken from this list for ethical reasons but at some point should we accept that these people are part of the world we live in? (and try to help them rather than pretend they don't exist.)

...somewhy I'm reminded of the Human Rights abuses document that the Chinese govt. made critising America, just goes to show that it's just a matter of perspective...
http://www.stallman.org/human-rights-us-china.html (provides a link)

Ciaran O'Riordan