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Open Source for America recently celebrated its second anniversary, and plans to recognize the individuals, projects, and deployments that support its mission to encourage free and open source software adoption in the US government. Nominate an individual or project for an award. The categories and last years winners are listed below. » Read more

Friends –

Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO, is leaving government for academia, and today a new Federal CIO was named. Below, you’ll find a letter from Open Source for America wishing Mr. Kundra well. » Read more

As policy discussions on the 'Cloud' unfold in Washington, Brussels and around the world, last week's Red Hat Summit in Boston, where more than 2,500 developers and software leaders gathered from around the world, focused attention on open source and the 'Cloud.' » Read more

I attended the latest briefing at the White House complex, where Federal CIO Vivek Kundra, Federal Chief Performance Officer Jeff Zients, and other Executive Branch officials reported on implementation of the Administration’s IT Reform Agenda. » Read more

Today marks the annual observance of Document Freedom Day (DFD), a global day for document liberation.

On this important occasion, let's all recognize that progress has been made to promote and use open standards and to liberate documents. In January, India’s Department of Information Technology published its draft Interoperability Framework for E-Governance in India (IFEG), which lists ODF on its approved standards for e-governance in India. » Read more

The February issue of DACS' (Data and Analysis Center for Software) Software Tech News focuses entirely on the U.S. Department of Defense and open source software.  However, even if you aren't interested in the use of open source in the military, there are still some gems that apply to all U.S. government agencies that you might want to check out.  

The articles include: » Read more

The results are in for U.S. agencies' use of open source, thanks to a scorecard released today by Open Source for America.  The Departments of Defense and Energy had the highest scores, largely due to the fact that they have "published agency-created software code as open source and provide clear guidance identifying open source as a permitted procurement option." » Read more

In Meadville, Pennsylvania, it's snowing. And when we get lake effect snow this many days in a row, the only thing to be done is to pour a cup of hot chocolate, put your feet up by the fire, and tell a yarn about open source in education.

Specifically, I'm going to tell you a story of how the research and development work of two women in computer science is going to be transformed into a service to support blind students in the classroom by 20 first-years at Allegheny College. And we need your support.

» Read more

I love this video from Dave Cole (Senior Advisor to the CIO, Executive Office of the President) and Macon Phillips (White House Director of New Media). You hear the feds talk a lot about openness and transparency, but not often specifically about open source.  But here, you can see that the White House really gets it. » Read more