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New policy pushes for open source in California agencies
[...] The California Department of Technology released a letter this week announcing a new policy — called the Open Source and Code Reuse Policy — elevating the use of open source software across state government. Agencies and state entities are asked to develop, purchase or reuse open source software — anything with source code that is publicly available to view, adapt, or reuse — for new IT projects as a first option where it is financially viable. (There are a few exceptions, such as cases that would threaten national or state security.)
The policy is also applied retroactively to existing state-built software, requiring agencies to make such code "broadly available for reuse across state government in a consistent manner." The policy notes that reusing custom-developed code across state agencies "can have significant benefits for taxpayers, including decreasing duplicative costs" and is intended to "promote innovation and collaboration across state government."
Non-open-source software will still be permitted — an official from the California Department of Technology assured StateScoop that the state wants to keep the door open for its vendor partners, but emphasized that open source has value that warrants strong consideration by agencies.
(Score: 2, Offtopic) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday June 03 2018, @06:03AM (1 child)
Why did @BarackObama [twitter.com] spend millions to try and hide his records? He was the least transparent President -- EVER -- and he ran on transparency. The Crooked Failing @nytimes [twitter.com] says I'm "running what might be the most transparent administration in history." My presidency has been tremendously successful. And I think they see that in California, they want success for their state. So they're opening up their cyber. Just like I opened up the JFK files. And maybe some of our biggest cyber companies -- Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Apple & Oracle -- will find something very interesting in there. And make a lot of money off the California cyber. While they make California great again. All because of me!
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday June 03 2018, @06:29AM
Can you please do something about all this patent and copyright mess?
Its one thing protecting a guy's business reputation and his mark, but using law to keep competition at bay is flat not at all within the scope of "free enterprise", its become a goddamm crony capitalism, like Al Capone used to run.
If I see Joe is making a living stacking brick, I want the right to stack brick too, without Joe's Congressman telling me that I am treading on Joe's monopoly rights by offering to do the same thing for less.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @06:25AM (2 children)
... even the Richard Stallmans of the California have been forced to pay for proprietary software.
That's Government, for you: Not just a monopoly. A Violently Imposed Monopoly.
Enjoy yer Freedumbs.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @10:07AM (1 child)
Nothing wrong for paying for proprietary software, any more than my paying someone else to build me a block wall.
Now, what will get my goat is somebody telling me I can't either build or pay to have built a wall that looks like a wall somebody else has made, or telling me that I can't stand in the same spot and take a photo of something just because someone else staked out the spot he stood in and says that I can't stand in that area to take the photo.
I am not for stealing, but I am for free enterprise and competition. Taking someone else's stuff is just flat wrong. But if he has something I want, he does not want to sell it to me at a price I am willing to pay, I feel I am completely within my rights to build one - just like it if that's what I want. But his is his... no contest - and I have no rights whatsoever to that which is his.
Right now, what I see seems tantamount to seeing local fastfood chefs checking up on other chefs... you are putting pepper in the scrambled eggs! You can't do that! Only I can put pepper in scrambled eggs! Its my signature dish and you are in violation of my trade dress! Honorable Congressman! Honorable Senator! Pass Law! Protect my Business Plan!
And Congressmen, being what they are, codify this kinda crap into statutory law.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @11:30AM
Paying for non-free proprietary user-subjugating software with tax dollars is absolutely wrong. Governments, as laughable as it may seem, should be promoting freedom, education, and independence. Since proprietary software is in opposition to all of those things, governments should not use it at all. Instead, they can use existing Free Software or create/improve Free Software as necessary, which would benefit everyone. What do we get when governments are dependent upon large corporations? Nothing good.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday June 03 2018, @10:29AM (5 children)
Good on em. This may be the first time California has ever attempted to lessen the burden on taxpayers without epic amounts of bitching occurring.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by MikeVDS on Sunday June 03 2018, @08:30PM (1 child)
I worked for the State of CA for 13 years. I hope this works for them and continues, but everything moves extremely slow in the state. In 2015 I was a Chief Engineer, working on Windows XP with MS Office 2003 (might have even been 97), on hardware that could hardly run that software and it was "completely locked down". I could not open the docx or xlsx files that were regularly sent to me. I would boot into Linux from a flash drive to make my computer somewhat functional. AutoCAD was the only reason I needed to go back to Windows.
I think it will be a long time before these massive departments migrate over. The peons at every level will fight change of any sort. All the people abusing the system, taking kickbacks for purchasing large amounts of software licenses, will argue that their job cannot be done without spending millions of taxpayers dollars on proprietary software.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @09:04PM
Which, at that point, had been obsolete since the previous calendar year. [google.com]
on hardware that could hardly run that software
Munich saw this coming (W2k - eXPee transition, actually) and decided to go with their own distro based on Debian Linux (later, Ubuntu-based).
They saved millions and millions.
Can't wait to see what the voters in Munich have to say about the decision of the politicians to go back to Windoze & proprietary software and the estimated 100 million that that will cost.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 03 2018, @08:50PM (2 children)
To stretch the point a bit, there's considerable overlap with consumers and taxpayers.
Some of our Insurance Commissioners in Cali have been really on the ball in lessening the burden put on us by insurance companies (who produce nothing, BTW; FIRE sector again).
So, referring to our anti-government Soylentils, even a blind hog does find an acorn now and then.
.
WRT FOSS, it's nice to see a place in USA catching up with numerous places in EU.
...and Malaysia.gov has been 100 percent FOSS for some years now.
...and the autonomous region of Extremadura in Spain made major strides[1] [google.com] before them.
The public school system of Brazil has had over 500,000 Linux seats since early in this decade (the largest Linux deployment with a common IT administration of which I am aware).
[1] If you also see 40,000, that's the mopping-up portion.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday June 03 2018, @10:13PM (1 child)
Malaysia.gov doesn't open on my phone. "Webpage not available"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 04 2018, @02:53AM
Not even if you lowercase the M?? 8;-)
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]