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Open Source for America launches
A group called Open Source
for America has announced its
existence. "The mission of Open Source for America is to serve
as a centralized advocate and to encourage broader U.S. Federal Government
support of and participation in free and open source
software. Specifically, Open Source for America will: help effect change in
policies and practices to allow the Federal Government to better utilize
these technologies; help coordinate these communities to collaborate with
the federal government on technology requirements; and raise awareness and
create understanding among federal government leaders about the values and
implications of open source software." In other words, we finally
have a lobbying organization in the US. There's a fairly high-profile
board of advisors (Ghosh, Moglen, O'Reilly, Peters, Phipps, Shuttleworth,
Tiemann, Zemlin, ...), some case studies, and, inevitably, a Twitter feed.
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The four freedoms Posted Jul 22, 2009 17:20 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] Nice that on their principles page they list FSF's four freedoms. Their stance is weaker than FSF's position since OS4A "supports" the four freedoms rather than saying that everyone has a right to them. But still, it's an indication that OS4A might sometimes help spread the idea of software freedom to the USA govt. Principle #4 reads a bit funny.
Open Source for America launches Posted Jul 22, 2009 18:03 UTC (Wed) by jordanb (guest, #45668) [Link]
I'm suprised Moglen would have anyting to do with Douchebag O'Reilly.
Open Source for America launches Posted Jul 22, 2009 18:36 UTC (Wed) by BrucePerens (guest, #2510) [Link] The funny thing is that the web 2.0 people wonder why he's "the patron saint of Web 2.0", just as we wondered just what he ever had to do with Open Source other than trying to capitalize on it for his own purposes.
Open Source for America launches Posted Jul 23, 2009 4:35 UTC (Thu) by flewellyn (subscriber, #5047) [Link]
Just to be clear, we're talking about Tim O'Reilly here?
I don't know about "patron saint", but the fact that his company has published a lot of good books about free software is not exactly insignificant.
coalitions Posted Jul 22, 2009 18:39 UTC (Wed) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]
To make a coalition that big, everyone has to make concessions. About naming, about principles, about who else is a member, etc.
The board of this group looks much better than the board of some other groups that I worry could try to do lobbying on "our" behalf.
Open Source for America launches Posted Jul 24, 2009 3:21 UTC (Fri) by tseaver (subscriber, #1544) [Link]
The obvious trollishness of such comment doesn't justify a response.
The O'Reilly folks, including most definitely Tim O'Reilly, have done
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