Open Source Software Around the World

It's open source from now on
—The Star/Tech Central, July 16, 2004
All Government technology procurement will now have a preference for open source software (OSS), under the Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software Masterplan made available to the public.

Oracle and Linux win over NZX
—The New Zealand Herald, July 13, 2004
NZX - the New Zealand stock exchange - has become the first major New Zealand company to adopt the Oracle 10g database running on Red Hat Linux. Apart from being able to consolidate 21 databases into one, the new NZX system runs faster, more reliably and at less cost, says the company's tech team. One key query - searching the data on historical trades to identify maximum trade values - has been cut from 36 seconds to 0.03 seconds.

France bids bienvenue to Linux
—PC Magazine, June 24, 2004
Over the next three years some 900,000 desktops are due to be replaced within the French government. Dutreil said that he expects many of them to move to open source.

Linux Enterprise Grip Tightens with EU Wins
—eWeek, June 16, 2004
The Norwegian city Bergen on Tuesday said it plans to move 100 schools and 32,000 users away from its proprietary Unix and Microsoft Windows applications platform to Linux by the end of this year.

Governments vote against Microsoft
—CNET News.com, January 22, 2004
The German city of Munich became one of the most high-profile Microsoft defectors last year, voting to move 14,000 city-owned PCs to open-source software. A number of British government agencies are looking at open-source, as are official agencies in Korea, China and Germany.

Open Source Software Use Within UK Government
—July 2002
Security of government systems is vital. Properly configured OSS can be at least as secure as proprietary systems, and OSS is currently subject to fewer Internet attacks. A balance needs to be struck between the availability of security administration skills and the advantages of many diverse systems. In some cases mainstream proprietary products may be significantly less secure than open source alternatives (see Gartner report Nimda Worm shows you can't always patch fast enough dated 19/9/01 by John Pescatore).

Venezuela's Government Shifts to Open Source Software
—Linux Today, Aug 30, 2002
The government and the people of Venezeula were increasingly concerned that over 75 percent of the funds for software licenses went to foreign nations, 20 percent to foreign support agencies, and only 5 percent to Venezuelan programmers.

Danish Board of Technology - Open-source Software in e-government
—October 2002
In principle, the advantage with open-source software is that the user obtains a higher degree of independence from the supplier and greater freedom of choice with regard to the other software it is to be used with, because open standards are used. Finally, the available source text provides an opportunity for independent reviews of security and other aspects, and it is possible to have relatively great trust in the security of open-source products which, like the Apache web server, are based on a strong environment of enterprises and independent developers.

Using Open Source Software in the South African Government
—16 January 2003
"OSS has emerged as a powerful new way of generating knowledge and economic value. The model can have profound economic benefits but, even without taking advantage of the freedom offered by access to the source, the non-proprietary status of open source software has huge implications for affordable IT solutions in both the public and private sectors. Open source may be poised to stimulate a new wave of opportunities in IT."

International Open Source Network
The International Open Source Network (IOSN) is a Center of Excellence for Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in the Asia-Pacific Region.

Asian Open Source Centre
Promoting open source and free software in Asia

Free and Open Source Software: Implications for ICT Policy and Development
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has made available an Internet edition of its E-Commerce and Development Report 2003, which proposes that the open source process produces better software.