Linux Journal: Linux in Government: An Interview with John Weathersby of OSSI

“On July 1, 2004, the Executive Office of the President of the
United States issued a memorandum for Senior Procurement Executives
and Chief Information Officers. The memorandum emphasizes the
President’s previous memorandum titled ‘Maximizing Use of SmartBuy
and Avoiding Duplication of Agency Activities.’ In this latest
memorandum, OMB 04-16, the President issued the following
ground-breaking statements:

“This reminder applies to acquisitions of all software, whether
it is proprietary or Open Source Software. Open Source Software’s
source code is widely available so it may be used, copied,
modified, and redistributed. It is licensed with certain common
restrictions, which generally differ from proprietary software.
Frequently, the licenses require users who distribute Open Source
Software, whether in its original form or as modified, to make the
source code widely available. Subsequent licenses usually include
the terms of the original license, thereby requiring wide
availability. These differences in licensing may affect the use,
the security, and the total cost of ownership of the software and
must be considered when an agency is planning a software
acquisition.

“As I read this memorandum, I quickly thought of someone who has
worked behind the scenes in the federal arena to promote
open-source software…”

Complete
Story