Category: What I’m Thinking About

Big and small things I’m working on.

Two Countries, Separated By a Common IT Market

The UK Cabinet Office has made no secret of its enthusiasm for open source software. They've provided a Government Action Plan, included open source in their ICT Strategy, and even provided an Open Source Procurement Toolkit for government buyers. They see the same benefits as their US counterparts: a more competitive software market, more innovation, more interagency collaboration, fewer … Continue reading Two Countries, Separated By a Common IT Market →

An Open Cloud Strategy, 3 Bullet Edition

An Exadata server.

I posted a link to David Lutterkort's fantastic talk on the Aeolus Project at PuppetConf 2011, and Matt Asay jumped right in: https://twitter.com/#!/mjasay/status/131046988971130880 He's right. So I blithely replied: https://twitter.com/#!/ghelleks/status/131047965061156867 This blog post was thus inevitable. 1) Choice is important. This should be "Choice is still important." but it wouldn't fit in the tweet. The … Continue reading An Open Cloud Strategy, 3 Bullet Edition →

GOSCON: Climbing the Mountain

The Government Open Source Conference, masterfully curated by Deb Bryant and the good people at the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, is one of my favorite open source events. Every year, they manage to pull together quality speakers from innovative agencies and projects in a warm, collaborative, and exciting environment. Before the earthquake unpleasantness … Continue reading GOSCON: Climbing the Mountain →

New York CIO Dr. Daniel Chan

Chan said he believes in open technology approaches – including re-using solutions developed by other states – whenever feasible to avoid unnecessary expenses. The strategy was cemented by the success of myBenefits.ny.gov, a 2008 portal he helped develop as CIO of the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance. In building the site, his office … Continue reading New York CIO Dr. Daniel Chan →

DOD Open Technology Development Guide Released!

The DOD's second Open Technology Development Roadmap has been released: "Open Technology Development: Lessons Learned and Best Practices". It's a handbook for using and making open source in the DOD and the US Government, sponsored by the Secretary of Defense. It provides practical advice on policy, procurement, and good community governance, all under a Creative … Continue reading DOD Open Technology Development Guide Released! →

Lockheed Martin on Open Source and the Cloud

Lockheed Martin's Melvin Greer, Senior Fellow and Chief Strategist, Cloud Computing, noted that the contractor community's development of internal expertise in using open source software will help the government in its adoption of OSS. “When Vivek Kundra, the U.S. Chief Information Officer, unveiled his 25-point implementation plan for IT reform, one of his top initiatives … Continue reading Lockheed Martin on Open Source and the Cloud →

Obama, McNealy, and Cognitive Dissonance

Gene Quinn's recent post titled "What Happened to the Obama Open Source Initiative?" criticizes, in turns, open source software, Scott McNealy, the Obama administration, and "business newbies" who want to use the open source software model. Early in the Administration, President Obama asked Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, to prepare a report on … Continue reading Obama, McNealy, and Cognitive Dissonance →

The Hazards of Open Data Exceptionalism

The prospect of funding cuts for e-Gov initiatives like data.gov, USAspending.gov and friends is worrying. Everyone should join the Sunlight Foundation's effort to Save the Data. At the same time, this is a good opportunity for reflection. There's no doubt that the proliferation of Open Government websites has been a great first step for transparency … Continue reading The Hazards of Open Data Exceptionalism →