Pursuing adoption of free and open source software in governments

Free and open source software creates a natural and even necessary fit with government. I joined a panel this past weekend at the Free Software Foundation conference LibrePlanet on this topic and have covered it previously in a journal article and talk. Our panel focused on barriers to its adoption and steps that free software advocates could take to reach out to government agencies.

LibrePlanet itself is a unique conference: a techfest with mission an entirely serious, feasible exploration of a world that could be different. Participants constantly ask: how can we replace the current computing environment of locked-down systems, opaque interfaces, intrusive advertising-dominated services, and expensive communications systems with those that are open and free? Ill report a bit on this unusual gathering after talking about government.

The LibrePlanet panel on government adoption was chaired by MIT professor and community activist Ezra Glenn; I participated along with software developer and OReilly author Karl Fogel and a lot of impressive audience members.

Audience attending the keynote.

Reasons for government agencies to adopt free and open source software have been aired repeatedly, including my article mentioned earlier. A few justifications include:

Obviously, though, government agencies havent gotten the memo. Im not just talking metaphorically; there have been plenty of memos urging the use of open source, ranging from the US Department of Defense to laws passed in a number of countries.

And a lot of progress has taken place. Munich, famously, has switched its desktops to GNU/Linux and OpenOffice.org but the process took 13 years. Elsewhere in Europe, Spain has been making strides, and the UK promises to switch. In Latin America, Brazil has made the most progress. Many countries that could benefit greatly from using free software and have even made commitments to do so are held back by a lack of IT staff with the expertise to do so.

Key barriers include:

Thoroughgoing change in the area of software requires managers to have a certain consciousness at a higher level: they need to assert control over their missions and adopt agile workflows. That will inevitably spawn a desire for more control over the software that carries out these missions. A posting by Matthew Burton of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau shows that radical redirections like this are possible.

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Pursuing adoption of free and open source software in governments