[OSGeo-Discuss] U.S. Department of Interior soliciting Ideas on improving business practices

[Arnulf Christl (OSGeo)]

>
> Hi Folks,
>       The U.S Department of Interior has a website up soliciting ideas for
> improvement. Each idea gives registered users options to comment and vote
> on suggestions.  There is a suggestion posted  for the use of open source
> software, and I have just posted a suggestion for regular benchmarking of
> software ( commercial and open source)  for OGC services and processing
> large datasets ( comments welcome!) .

Doug,
thank you for this information.

One minor clarification on terminology (I will never tire): Using the
wording "commercial and open source" to differentiate proprietary form
free/open license models is misguiding as all Open Source software can
also be used in commercial contexts and is thus also "commercial
software".

This has recently been clarified by the US Department of Defense available
in a document [1], attachment 2 on page 5, §2 a):
"In almost all cases, OSS meets the definition of “commercial computer
software” and shall be given appropriate statutory preference in
accordance with 10 USC 2377 (reference (b)) (see also FAR 2.101(b),
12.000, 12.101 (reference (c)); and DFARS 212.212, and 252.227-7014(a)(1)
(reference (d)))."

(I love to cite those guys, they manage to make everything look dead
serious :-)

The correct term to differentiate free and open source license models from
proprietary license is models is "proprietary", and nothing but.

Best regards,
Arnulf.

[1] http://cio-nii.defense.gov/sites/oss/2009OSS.pdf

>       For those who might be interested in making suggestions or
> commenting
> on the existing suggestions, the website is:
> http://openinterior.ideascale.com/
>
>
> Doug
>
> Doug Newcomb
> USFWS
> Raleigh, NC
> 919-856-4520 ext. 14 doug_newcomb at fws.gov
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The opinions I express are my own and are not representative of the
> official policy of the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service or Dept. of the
> Interior.   Life is too short for undocumented, proprietary data
> formats._______________________________________________
> Discuss mailing list
> Discuss at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss


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