Government Open Source Policies, July 2008. Center for Strategic and International Studies. This is the sixth update to the CSIS Open Source Policy survey. The survey tracks governmental policies on the use of open source software
as reported in the press or other media. As with the previous efforts, we included only explicit statements of policy and did not count
decisions by governments to use or purchase open source software, as this may only reflect a decision based on price or product.
The first Western Cape (South Africa) Open Source Software (OSS) audit was conducted in 2006.
The initiative was facilitated by the Cape IT initiative (CITI), the Western Cape Provincial Government, the City of Cape Town and open source magazine, Tectonic.
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AnExperienceOfTransitionToOSSInLocalAuthorities - final V2.pdf ViewDownload
An Experience of Transition to Open Source Software in Local Authorities. By Paolo ZULIANI, Giancarlo SUCCI.
Abstract: In this paper we briefly report about a transition to Open Source Software for desktop applications in the Municipalities of the Province of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy. The transition focused mainly on the OpenOffice desktop suite. The experience indicated that tackling correctly personnel resistance to change may be the most important factor for a successful transition. Effective training and support are other important factors, while technical or functional problems seem to be quite marginal (with the exception of the macro operations issue).
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Best Practices for Creating an Open Source Policy.pdf ViewDownload
Most companies using open source software know they need an open source policy. However, when it comes to creating a policy companies often don’t know where to start and spend months debating policy details and researching options. This guide is intended to help you write an open
source software policy. But perhaps more important, it will also help you figure out who to include in the policy creation process so that your company is likely to agree upon and use the open source software policy once it’s been written.
Why Open Source software can succeed.
Andrea Bonaccorsi, Cristina Rossi
The paper discusses three key economic problems raised by the emergence of Open Source: motivation, co-ordination, and diffusion. First, the movement took off through the activity of a community that did not follow profit motivations.
Second, a hierarchical co-ordination emerged without proprietary rights. Third, Open Source systems diffused in environments dominated by proprietary standards. The paper shows that recent developments in the theory of diffusion of technologies with
network externality may help to explain these phenomena. A simulation model based on heterogeneous agents is developed in order to identify the relevant factors in the diffusion of the technology.
The Potential of Free and Open Source Software for Sustainable Human
Development. A Compilation of Case Studies from Across the
World.
This compilation of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) case studies is a selection of the submissions received as a result of an invitation by the UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (UNDP-APDIP) and its International Open Source Network (IOSN) to capture, document and promote FOSS initiatives from around the world. These initiatives were asked to submit case studies of their projects for consideration as “success stories” and 14 have been selected for inclusion in this book.
CIO.com: Open Source is Entering the Enterprise Mainstream, Survey Shows View
Open-source solutions used to be adopted quietly by company boffins who snuck in an Apache Web server or an open-source development tool suite under the philosophy "It's easier to get forgiveness than permission" (not to mention "It's easier to do it with open-source tools than to get an IT budget").
That's no longer the case, according to a survey of IT and business executives and managers, conducted in late April 2008 by CIO.com. The survey, collecting data from 328 respondents, showed that more than half the respondents (53 percent) are using open-source applications in their organization today, and an additional 10 percent plan to do so in the next year. For nearly half, 44 percent, open-source applications are considered equally with proprietary solutions during the acquisition process.
Alfresco Case Study: City of Lausanne.Consolidated EDM to Support e-Government Initiatives
Key drivers for the adoption of Alfresco were the e-Government projects the
City of Lausanne wished to undertake. In a study of e-Government
preparedness many departments identified the lack of enterprise document
management (EDM) systems was a road-block to moving forward with
implementation of e-Government initiatives. Resolving issues with the
organizations EDM infrastructure was identified as a high priority before any
work could commence on implementing e-Government online services.
The city council comprises of forty one departments, some of which had
existing EDM and records management (RM). However, many of these
systems were proprietary and difficult to extend. The city council sought also
to replace the use of a SAN based information storage system by a process
centric use of a centralized EDM application across all departments.
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EC Open Source Office Automation Software Investigation.pdf ViewDownload
[EASTERN CAPE SOUTH AFRICA] THE OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE WORK TEAM
OPEN SOURCE OFFICE AUTOMATION SOFTWARE
INVESTIGATION
The sections below provide an overview of Open Office as an alternative to traditional propriety
office automation applications. Some basic requirements for applications have been noted and
included in the evaluation. The interoperability requirements have also been noted as well as a
brief analysis of the cost to purchase, implement, train users and support the application.
The objectives of the evaluation are as follows:
? To determine if the Open Office application is a suitable and comparable substitute for the
expensive proprietary office automation packages such as MS Office and Corral Office.
? To evaluate the functionality provided by Open Office.
? To determine the total cost of ownership of Open Office and compare it to another popular
application.
? To understand and evaluate the availability of training and support for Open Office.
Open.Amsterdam is a project that aims to develop an ‘open’ workstation
environment for the City of Amsterdam, as an alternative to the
Microsoft-oriented workstation. This pamphlet describes the
background, objectives, approach and desired results of this project.
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Enhancing E-Government in Developing Countries_ Managing Knowledge through Virtual CommunitiesEJISDC-2003-100.pdf ViewDownload
Enhancing E-government in Developing Countries: Managing Knowledge
through Virtual Communities
Christian Wagner, Karen Cheung, Fion Lee, Rachael Ip
iscw, iskaren, isfion, isip @cityu.edu.hk
Department of Information Systems, City University of Hong Kong,
83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong
ABSTRACT
The article reviews the role of virtual communities as a knowledge management mechanism
to support e-government in developing countries. It explores the need for knowledge
management in e-government, identifies knowledge management technologies, and
highlights the challenges for developing countries in the implementation of e-government and
especially knowledge management solutions. It further assesses the feasibility of this and
other knowledge management mechanisms in light of the financial and technological
limitations of developing countries. The article suggests that knowledge management is
needed to facilitate information exchange and transaction processing with citizens, as well as
to enable inter-government knowledge sharing and integration. It concludes that simple
knowledge management solutions, and especially virtual communities, will be the most
appropriate for developing countries, while enterprise solutions are not suitable.
Keywords: Knowledge management, e-government, developing country, enterprise solution,
virtual community
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Eric S. Raymond - The Cathedral and the Bazaar View
Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel. "The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them." The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.
Sep 8, 2008 1:07 AM
Nico Elema
Europes readiness for e-government_eready.pdf ViewDownload
Europe’s
readiness for
e-government
by William Heath.
Europe’s readiness for e-government is an independent study of EU countries’ progress
towards e-government. Its aim is to improve our understanding of e-government so that all
involved can play their role more effectively.
It compares lessons and progress from different countries, and makes common sense
observations based on impressions gained in the research about e-government in general, and
the role of EU and national targets in the move towards it.
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Free/Libre/OpenSource Software: Worldwide impact study View
Context
Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) is arguably one of the best examples of open, collaborative, internationally distributed production and development that exists today, resulting in tremendous interest from around the world, from government, policy, business, academic research and developer communities.
The problem
However, empirical data on the impact of FLOSS, its use and development is still quite limited. The FP5 FLOSS project and FP6 FLOSSPOLS project have helped fill in the gaps in our knowledge about why and how FLOSS is developed and used, but have necessarily been focussed on Europe. FLOSS is a global phenomenon, particularly relevant in developing countries, and thus more knowledge on FLOSS outside Europe is needed.
Project objectives
FLOSSWorld primarily aims to strengthen Europe’s leadership in international research in FLOSS and open standards, and to exploit research and policy complementarities to improve international cooperation, by building a global constituency of policy-makers and researchers.
It is expected that FLOSSWorld will enhance Europe’s leading role in research in the area of FLOSS and strongly embed Europe in a global network of researchers and policy makers, and the business, higher education and developer communities. FLOSSWorld will enhance the level of global awareness related to FLOSS development and industry, human capacity building, standards and interoperability and e-government issues in the geographical regions covered by the consortium.
The project will result in a stronger, sustainable research community in these regions. Broad constituency-building exercises risk losing momentum after initial workshops and meetings – without specific actions to sustain a focus. FLOSSWorld will perform three global empirical studies of proven relevance to Europe and third countries, which will provide a foundation for FLOSSWorld's regional and international workshops.
The purpose of this paper is to document the state of open source software development in
Africa from the perspective of the projects that participated in Good to Great FOSS. In
addition, this paper includes an overview of best practices for open source development in the
African context as detailed by event participants, as well as a summary of recommendations
made at the event on how to better support and propagate open source efforts in Africa.
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government Preferences for Promoting OSS - a solution in search of a problem SSRN-id313202.pdf ViewDownload
GOVERNMENT
PREFERENCES FOR
PROMOTING OPEN-SOURCE
SOFTWARE: A SOLUTION IN
SEARCH OF A PROBLEM
David S. Evans and Bernard Reddy.NATIONAL ECONOMIC
RESEARCH ASSOCIATES.
Governments around the world are making or considering efforts to promote opensource
software (typically produced by cooperatives of individuals) at the expense of
proprietary software (generally sold by for-profit software developers).1 Proposals include
having government agencies standardize on using open-source software, providing
procurement preferences to open-source software, and subsidizing research and development of
open-source software. The European Parliament, for example, adopted a resolution in
September 2001 that calls on the Commission and Member States “ to promote software
projects whose source text is made public.”2 The German Bundestag is considering legislation
that would require government agencies to use open source.3 Former French Prime Minister
Jospin created an agency whose mission will be to “ encourage administrations to use open source software and open standards.”4 The U.S. government has supported R&D efforts that
create software that must be released under restrictive open-source licenses.5 Leaders of the
open source movement are naturally spurring these efforts.6 But so are academics such as
Professor Lawrence Lessig of Stanford Law School.7
This article examines the economic basis for these kinds of government interventions in
the market.
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Guidelines on the procurement of open source software as published by The Open Source Repository and Observatory (OSOR) View
Guidelines on the procurement of open source software as published by The Open Source Repository and Observatory (OSOR). This document is published as a DRAFT
Nov 16, 2008 11:24 PM
Nico Elema
Ideology Or Pragmatism_Open Standards And Cultural Heritage Web Sites.pdf ViewDownload
IDEOLOGY OR PRAGMATISM?
OPEN STANDARDS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE
WEB SITES
Brian Kelly, Marieke Guy - UKOLN, University of Bath,
Claverton Down, Bath, UK
Alastair Dunning - AHDS, King’s College London,
London, UK
Lawrie Phipps - TechDis, The Network Centre, 4
Innovation Close, York Science Park, York, UK.
Abstract
The importance of open standards for providing access to
digital resources is widely acknowledged. Bodies such as
the W3C are developing the open standards needed to
provide universal access to digital cultural heritage
resources. However, despite the widespread acceptance of
the importance of open standards, in practice many
organisations fail to implement open standards in their
provision of access to digital resources. It clearly becomes
difficult to mandate use of open standards if it is wellknown
that compliance is seldom enforced. Rather than
abandoning open standards or imposing a stricter regime for
ensuring compliance, this paper argues that there is a need
to adopt a culture which is supportive of use of open
standards but provides flexibility to cater for the difficulties
in achieving this.
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Ignorance of Crowds - enews-05-31-07 (2).pdf ViewDownload
The Ignorance of Crowds, by Nicholas G. Carr.
The open source model can play an important role in innovation, but know its limitations.
Open Source in the Enterprise
New Software Disrupts the Technology Stack
Joe McKendrick, Research Analyst - September 2007.
How deeply have open-source solutions penetrated enterprises with Oracle data centers? While many database managers continue to
weigh the advantages and potential applications for open-source databases, there are a wide variety of open-source solutions emerging in
all parts of the stack – from the operating system to middleware to applications. However, most open source applications are still being
deployed to support peripheral functions, versus core mission-critical enterprise applications.
A survey among members of the Independent Oracle Users Group (IOUG), conducted by Unisphere Research, revealed that large segments
of Oracle-powered enterprises are implementing open source solutions at all levels of the stack, including databases. Open source
software offers significant cost savings over traditional commercial packages, as well as greater flexibility.
The new survey among members of the IOUG, the leading user group for Oracle database management, was conducted to measure the
scope and adoption of open source software and solutions. The survey was announced via an email notification to the IOUG membership
list, which directed participants to a Web-based survey instrument. A total of 226 responses were collected by the survey deadline.
LiMux -- Free Software for Munich. By Volker Grassmuck.
Free software on the server end of an IT infrastructure is quite
common in Germany.2 What makes the LiMux project stand out is
that the Bavarian capital Munich (1.3 million inhabitants) will
migrate 14,000 PCs and laptops of its public employees to nonproprietary
software. While this is not an economically large or
particularly technically complex undertaking, it is the largest
deployment of GNU/Linux and OpenOffice in the public sector so
far, and this symbolic value turned it into one of the world’s highest
profile migration projects. Like the fall of the Berlin Wall, LiMux
signals to public and private decision makers around the world that
life beyond the existing order is possible.
Limux – the IT-Evolution
Limux – the composition of the words Linux and Munich – is the
official name for the open source project of the municipality of the
German city Munich.
Evolution describes the goal of the city – a modern IT-environment
adapted to the needs that will arise in a slow but continuous
development process.
Linux is now more than a decade old. Throughout its history there have been many government entities that have decided that Linux was the ideal operating system to handle their mission-critical computing needs. This list gets larger every day. Here are a list of some of the more notable migrations to the Linux platform in the public sector
Sep 8, 2008 4:45 AM
Nico Elema
Model OSS curriculums V1 (2008年published in October) View
County Government Turns to MySQL
to Help Support its Citizens. Pottawattamie County is located in southwestern Iowa,
part of the metropolitan area for Omaha, Nebraska. Like
most local governments around the world, it strives to
increase the efficiency of the services it provides to its community
while operating within a closely-monitored budget.
Traditionally, small government entities have been reluctant
to embrace leading-edge technology for fear of risk and
complexity. However, the Pottawattamie County Information
Technologies (PCIT) department has implemented
open source software, such as the MySQL database,
throughout their organization. They chose this new
type of computing infrastructure because it allows them
to deliver more reliable and cost-effective solutions in
less time than previously possible.
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Open Source and Open Standards in Geospatial Technologies.pdf ViewDownload
Open Source and Open Standards in Geospatial Technologies
Two Kinds of Open Come Together
It is difficult to read an IT magazine, speak with a programmer or read a technical blog these days and not run
into the terms open source and open standards. And, while many vendors and users advocate one, the other, or
both, there have been few explorations of the implications of these ideas for the geospatial community. This
article will do just that, and take a step further by revealing the power of uniting the two to solve today's
challenges related to using geospatial data and services.
By Adena Schutzberg
DIFFUSION OF FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AS INNOVATION:
A CASE STUDY OF METU
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
BY
ALTAY S¸. ¨OZAYGEN.
December 2004, 154 pages
In this thesis, the diffusion of free and open source software (FOSS) on desktop PCs
at Middle East Technical University in Ankara (METU) is investigated within the
framework of the diffusion of innovation theory. This thesis aims to propose some
policies for the migration to FOSS on desktop PCs at METU. The research is conducted
through two similar web-based surveys.
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Open source barred from Australian government View
[The Australian] Government was once the great hope for open source but it will continue to diminish due to a lack of support according to the CIOs of Australia's largest government agencies.
An Empirical Look at the Problems of Open Source Adoption in Finnish Municipalities. Ville Oksanen, Mikko Välimäki and Juha Laine.
This article starts by considering the global framework of current open source migration. We show that the fight against software piracy is most likely speeding up the adoption especially in the developing countries. The situation is somewhat different in those parts of the world, which have lower piracy rates.
There, political lobbying seems to offer the major push for open source software. This brings us to study the actual open source software adoption in the Finland, which is both the home of Linux and also one of the most advances information societies with little piracy. The outcome is rather surprising – the Finnish government is currently ignoring open source. The results we have got from our a survey to all Finnish municipalities and from additional expanded interviews shows that there is currently high demand and growing interest for open source solutions within the Finnish municipalities but the government (by ignoring the issue) and the private sector (being mainly committed to proprietary solutions) are not able to fill the needs. We propose that the governments in the rich countries should in fact learn from developing countries and have a more proactive policy approach to open source software.
Open source software and Australian school education. An introduction. Paper prepared by Dr Kathryn Moyle. AUGUST 2003. This paper provides an introduction to open source software in the context of Australian
schools. It is intended to provide the basis for developing some shared understandings
about what open source software is; its benefits; its limitations; and it provides a brief
scan of what is happening in Australian schools and sectors. This paper may provide the
basis for informing future discussions at state and national levels.
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Open Source Projects as Horizontal Innovation Networks - By and for users4366-02.pdf ViewDownload
MIT Sloan School of Management
Working Paper 4366-02
June 2002
Open source projects as horizontal
innovation networks - by and for users
Eric von Hippel.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper No. 4366-02
June, 2002
ABSTRACT
Innovation development, production, distribution and consumption
networks can be built up horizontally – with actors consisting only of
innovation users (more precisely, “user/self-manufacturers”). “Free” and
“open source” software projects are examples of such networks, and
examples can be found in the case of physical products as well.
User innovation networks can function entirely independently of
manufacturers when (1) at least some users have sufficient incentive to
innovate, (2) at least some users have an incentive to voluntarily reveal
their innovations, and (3) diffusion of innovations by users is low cost and
can compete with commercial production and distribution. When only the
first two conditions hold, a pattern of user innovation and trial and
improvement will occur within user networks, followed by commercial
manufacture and distribution of innovations that prove to be of general
interest. In this paper we explore the empirical evidence related to each of
these matters and conclude that conditions favorable to user innovation
networks are often present in the economy.
Keywords: innovation networks, user innovation, open source software.
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Open Source Software managing frameworkDLFE-120.pdf ViewDownload
OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK. Authors: Nina Helander, Timo Aaltonen, Teemu Mikkonen, Ville Oksanen,
Mikko Puhakka, Marko Seppänen, Tere Vadén, Niklas Vainio
In this report that serves as the final report of OSSI research project, we will summarize the main results of OSSI research project. However, in the earlier research reports of OSSI, 1) Essays on OSS Practices and Sustainability, 2) Empirical Insights on Open Source Software Business and 3) Multidisciplinary Views to Open Source Software Business, important and complementary views and results are also brought up. Throughout the project we have also actively published in academic journals and edited books (especially to mention the recently published Handbook on Open Source Software Research). At the end of this report, a list of these publications with a short description on the issues covered in them is offered.
This report concentrates on presenting the tools and models that together form the OSS management framework. The results are written by keeping mind the needs of companies, as OSSI project has foremost been an industry driven research guiding the researchers to work together to bring multidisciplinary, but yet unified view for companies looking to utilize OSS.
We would like to point out that our r
Open Source Business Resource. March 2009. Focusing on Open Source GIS. The editorial theme for the March issue
of the OSBR is "Geospatial" and the role
open source is playing in transforming
this niche market into a mainstream
market. The authors in this issue bring
their many years of experience in both industry
and open source to provide their
observations, lessons learned, and to
provide examples of open source geospatial
implementations. Even if you don't
use geospatial technologies, you'll still
find many valuable insights in this issue
of the OSBR.
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OSOR Guidelines Public procurement and Open Source Software View
"The main part of this guideline, following this
introduction, is intended for a broad readership. It is
intended to provide practical guidance to policy makers,
IT managers and procurement officials at the level of
national, regional and local government. It is therefore
intended to be readable and relatively short.
The main part of this guideline can be distributed, and
read, without further details. However, further details are
provided in the three Annexes:
Towards Open Source Software Adoption. Como, Italy, June 10, 2006. This book contains papers presented at tOSSad 2006 workshop. The workshop
was hosted by The Second International Conference on Open Source Systems
(OSS 2006) June 10th 2006, Grand Hotel, Como, Italy.
The main objective of tOSSad workshop at OSS 2006 meeting has been to integrate, and to discuss already formed methodologies, strategies, skills and technologies in F/OSS domain in order to help public bodies, educational institutions and SMEs to share research results, establish synergies, build partnerships and innovate in an enlarged Europe.
2007 Open Source Think Tank:
The Future of Commercial Open Source
Executive Summary Report.
The 2nd Open Source Think Tank was held on March 8-10, 2007, at the Silverado Resort in Napa,
California. The purpose of the event was to provide a venue for thought leaders from key segments of
the open source industry to collaboratively discuss, brainstorm and develop solutions to key issues in the
growth and maturation of commercial open source. Topics discussed included business models, licensing
and intellectual property issues, and adoption and usage models. The 100 attendees represented many
sectors of the open source ecosystem including senior executives from large and small software vendors
(both open source and proprietary), CIOs, venture capitalists, analysts and other industry experts.
The following is a synopsis of the event. It is not meant to represent the official company positions of any
of the attendees but to be an as accurate as possible summary of the many substantive discussions held
over the three days. The authors of this document have been careful to keep personal opinions out, while
faithfully recording the substance, facts and flavor of the event.
2020 FLOSS Roadmap. 2020 FLOSS Roadmap is the Open World Forum’s main manifesto, and is
designed to support discussions taking place during the different OWF seminars
and forums. This is a prospective Roadmap, and a projection of the influences
that will affect FLOSS between now (2008) and 2020, with descriptions of all
FLOSS-related trends as anticipated by OWF contributors over this period of time.
It also highlights all sectors that will, potentially, be impacted by FLOSS, from the
economy to the Information Society.
The use of Free/Open Source Software is growing in public administrations across Europe. What would be the potential impact on the development of the Information Society (including industry) if public organisations (administrations, research institutions, universities, agencies, public companies etc.) were to release software fully owned by them under an open source license?
The European Commission's DG Information Society and Media has commissioned a study to explore this impact. The OSSI team has the pleasure to communicate project results on this website.
Open Source Software in the Public Sector:
Results from the Emilia-Romagna Open Source
Survey (EROSS)
F. Rentocchini .y
D. Tartari z
1st April 2007
Abstract
The large di.usion of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) in
di.erent realms of society - private companies, communities, public or-
ganisations - has driven a general discussion among economic scholars on
a set of relevant topics. Among the others, public policies towards FLOSS
seem to attract a large part of the interest. Even though theoretical con-
tributions are quite widespread, comprehensive empirical works are still
missing. Our contribution is a .rst step in order to .ll this gap. We give
an exaustive description of the survey conducted in Emilia-Romagna, i.e.
an Italian area with an outstanding experience in dealing with informa-
tion society issues, concerning the adoption of FLOSS solutions by its
PAs. Results show a lively pattern, mainly on the server side. Moreover,
an econometric analysis is carried out in order to trace factors a.ecting
the decision to adopt FLOSS and the impact of a set of factors on the in-
teractivity of public services. Results from the econometric exercise reveal
that, quite interestingly, FLOSS adoption positively a.ect the quality in
the provision of public services. Furthermore, in line with empirical results
obtained from the FLOSSPOLS study we have found that the high license
fees and the need for customisation are all important factors strongly influencing the decision to adopt FLOSS solutions inside Emilia-Romagna
PAs.
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Risk assessment of an open source migration project_81.pdf ViewDownload
Risk Assessment of an Open Source Migration Project
Sylvester Drozdik & George L. Kovács Pál Zoltán Kochis
Computer and Automation Research Institute
Budapest, Hungary
Törökbálint City Council
Törökbálint, Hungary.
Abstract – In this paper we investigate the risks of an Open
Source migration in the small Public Administration (PA)
area. We consider not just technical risks (like security or
reliability), but strategic issues (like e-government priorities,
mid-term ownership cost items) and some social relations are
also taken into consideration.
II. OBJECTIVES
The COSPA project deals with the migration of the so
called Personal Productivity software. It covers the daily
use desktop tools supporting tasks like text and
spreadsheet processing, e-mailing, web browsing, etc. In
this context, COSPA declared a two phase approach:
1. the introduction of the OpenOffice.org package leaving
the existing desktop environment.
2. Migrate the desktops to Linux and completely replacing
the tool sets by OS ones.
Most PAs, especially local governmental ones, should
prepare to the e-Government goals of the EC, as it
declares 12 Citizen and 8 Business Public Services to
provide by the end of 2007 in the EC countries. It does not
mean that each PA must provide such services: in some
cases, local governments provide just data for the services
and the services are available from a central or provider
super-service.
Other objectives come from other EC declarations like
to be in the line of the Sustainable Development and to
support the Knowledge Based Society.
At last, there is a common and well known objective: to
keep the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the IT asset
reasonable low.
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Sociopolitical look at open source.pdf ViewDownload
A Sociopolitical Look at Open Source
Contemplating the sociological and political aspects of the
open source movement. Author: Robert L Glass
Open source software is
one of the most fascinating
subjects ot our
time. People enjoy
building .software so
.nuch thac rhey do it
for no pay, and argue
rhar everyone else
should (actUiUly, will
someday) do the same!
Open source is also a
warershed issue. The
people who love it, love
ir with a religious fervor.
The people who don't,
sometimes hare it with an equal
fervor.
Title: List of Selected Projects
Executive Summary:
The objective of this deliverable is to provide a list of projects which will be analysed during the first phase of the FLOSSMetrics project. This list is therefore a starting point which will be improved regularly once the retrieval system is complete and working. For now, the main purpose of the projects in the list is to serve as a sample to test and refine the retrieval system and the first versions of the database.
Extending the Technology Acceptance Model to Account for Social Influence:
Theoretical Bases and Empirical Validation
Yogesh Malhotra
BRINT Research Institute
malhotra@brint.com
Dennis F. Galletta
University of Pittsburgh
Katz School of Business
galletta@vms.cis.pitt.edu
Abstract
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) represents an
important theoretical contribution toward understanding IS
usage and IS acceptance behaviors [6, 19]. However, as
noted by several IS researchers [cf: 4, 5, 6, 9, 14], TAM is
incomplete in one important respect: it doesn't account for
social influence in the adoption and utilization of new
information systems. Davis [4] and Davis et al. [6] noted
that it is important to account for subjective norm (SN),
the construct denoting social influence. However, they
observed that the conceptualization of SN based on TRA
(Theory of Reasoned Action) has theoretical and
psychometric problems. Specifically, they observed that it
is difficult to distinguish if usage behavior is caused by the
influence of referents on one's intent or by one's own
attitude. They suggested that this problem may be
circumvented by using an alternative theoretical basis for
conceptualizing SN, specifically in terms of Kelman's [10,
11] processes of social influence (compliance,
identification and internalization). Within the context of
organizational enterprisewide implementation and
adoption of collaboration and communication
technologies, this study establishes theoretical and
empirical bases for the above conceptualization originally
suggested by Davis and his colleagues. The construct of
social influence is operationalized in terms of Kelman's
processes of internalization, identification and compliance.
Analyses of field study data provide evidence of the
reliability and validity of the proposed constructs, factor
structures and measures. The findings enable future
researchers to account for social influence in further
investigating TAM.
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Sep 14, 2008 4:31 AM
Nico Elema
The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Census 2007 View
The Australian Open Source Industry & Community Report is published by Waugh Partners as a freely downloadable PDF and is redistributable under a Creative Commons BY-ND license.
James Dixon<br>
The Bee Keeper is a brilliant analogy for the architecture of participation that is at the root of the success of open source. This paper elegantly explains how it can be possible that everybody wins when many contribute rather than pay, and some pay rather than contribute. - Marten Mickos, CEO, MySQL
The use of FOSS GIS in Local Government presented by Mr. Nico Elema at the FOSS4G Conference (2008). (2.5 MB)
Oct 6, 2008 1:03 AM
Nico Elema
This primer is meant to serve as a resource for nations in the process of formulating their FOSS policies. View
[Asia Pacific Region] This particular primer surveys the motivations of other countries in implementing FOSS, summarizes the steps involved in formulating a policy, lists some possible strategies to use in implementing the policy and finally touches on cross-sectoral issues unique to FOSS policies. Its target audience are the policy-makers who set national policies and their advisers.
Sep 11, 2008 11:07 AM
Nico Elema
[United Kingdom] Open Source Software in Schools. A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs. May 2005. Becta View
[United Kingdom]
Open Source Software in Schools. A study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs. May 2005
This report records work that Becta has done with schools which
have implemented a range of open source software (OSS)
solutions. This project, funded by the DfES, was one of an
interrelated series, all looking at ways of helping schools make
effective and sustainable use of ICT by exploring the total cost
of ownership (TCO) of their ICT infrastructure.
The project started with a pre-existing set of 33 non-OSS
primary and secondary schools that had agreed to take part in
more general TCO work. Becta used existing OSS contacts and
websites to identify a number of additional schools that were
already using OSS, and invited them to take part in the project.
Fifteen of these schools agreed to participate within the
project timescales.
United Nations.
To contribute to raising awareness of the increasing use of open source software (OSS) by public administrations worldwide and to highlight some of the requirements to be met by United Nations system organizations in creating an enabling environment if they intend to make more use of OSS as indicated in the new system-wide United Nations information and communication technologies (ICT) strategy
