By Richenda Gillespie, InternetNews.com
[Berlin, GERMANY] “I am convinced that open source development
can form the European base model in the information age.” With
these words, the German Secretary of State in the Federal Ministry for Economy and
Technology, Siegmar Mosdorf, definitively voiced the backing of the German Government at the
Linux
Day 2000 of the open source movement.
According to Mosdorf, the German federal government sees its
role in implementing a rethinking process in the civil service
sector in the use of IT operating systems. Currently most data
processing in the German civil service takes place using products
from Microsoft.
The Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs intends to publish a
guide in the fall that will be targeted at SMEs and the civil
services and has the aim of clarifying the advantages and
disadvantages of open source software and should serve such
institutions as an introduction into the subject. A national open
source competency center will also be set up to serve as a nodal
point for the open source community and software users in Germany,
by providing the necessary technical infrastructure, a discussion
forum and marketplace.
According to Mosdorf, the German federal government expects an
increase in security in data processing and data communication
because of the open source movement. This is because if the source
code of a program is clear and visible and can be checked by
experts, then security is considerably increased. “Security through
Obscurity” is the motto of yesterday. The slogan must today be
“Security through Transparency”. For this reason the Federal
Ministry for Economy and Technology is supporting the development
of an encryption product on an open source basis. This initiative
is not about putting certain businesses under pressure. The
competition in security matters will benefit the IT sector, says
Mosdorf.