Difference between revisions of "OSS:Brief"
From CSEP590TU
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
** General Overview | ** General Overview | ||
* Consideration of government funding of OSS (Ted) | * Consideration of government funding of OSS (Ted) | ||
| − | ** | + | ** Does contributing to OSS equal contributing to the general public? |
| + | *** Even if it does, does that mean the government should do so? | ||
** Economic effects | ** Economic effects | ||
| + | *** Good for OSS | ||
| + | *** Bad for non-OSS? | ||
** Effects on innovation | ** Effects on innovation | ||
* Case study of OSS funding: China (Kianwin) | * Case study of OSS funding: China (Kianwin) | ||
Revision as of 21:45, 8 November 2004
Contents
Members
- Alexis O'Connor
- Anna Reynoso
- Kianwin Ong
- Matt Ferlo
- Ted Sander
Summary
The government is in a unique position to aid open source software -- and open source software has the potential to help the government. We will examine whether the United States government should actively aid open source. We will also see if the government would benefit by using OSS, whether or not they wish to actively contribute to it. We will examine case studies of other countries' experiences, both those who funded OSS (China) and those who use it (France and Germany).
Organization
(Note: while the general outline is expected to remain the same, the sub-topics may change as more research is done.)
- Introduction (Matt)
- General Overview
- Consideration of government funding of OSS (Ted)
- Does contributing to OSS equal contributing to the general public?
- Even if it does, does that mean the government should do so?
- Economic effects
- Good for OSS
- Bad for non-OSS?
- Effects on innovation
- Does contributing to OSS equal contributing to the general public?
- Case study of OSS funding: China (Kianwin)
- What have they done?
- Why have they done it?
- What effect has it had? Were all of these effects foreseen or desirable?
- Could the United States learn from this example?
- Consideration of government adoption of OSS (Anna)
- Is OSS inherently desireable for government use?
- Government is often bolstered by appearance of openness and impartiality.
- Cheaper (or is it -- what about the TCO?)
- What effects would widespread government adoption have?
- On OSS in general?
- On the software industry?
- Are these things desirable?
- Is OSS inherently desireable for government use?
- Case study of OSS adoption: France, Germany, or ??? (Alexis)
- What's been done?
- Why?
- Did it work?
- How can the US learn from this?
- Conclusion (and integration of sections) (Matt)
- So, what's the bottom line?
References
- The Initiative for Software Choice, an industry-funded group opposed to giving a type of software preferential treatment.
- OMB Memo concerning TCO.
- Red Flag Linux, a Chinese Linux distribution that has been partially funded by the Chinese government.
- An open-source deal has been signed between France and China.
