Abstract
Open source software, and specifically the GNU General Public License ( GPL  ) that governs significant portions of it, has been called "un-American," "communistic," and otherwise anti-innovation. The inverse is actually true, with open source providing a free (meaning, open) platform upon which to build closed or open-source extensions. The closed source model provides no such benefit, locking government users into one corporation's roadmap. In this presentation, I will tackle the philosophical underpinnings of the closed and open source models of software development, arguing that open source comes closest to the free market ideal than closed source does. I will relate these philosophical foundations to government needs for security, control, and cost, and will hold that while governments should not necessarily mandate one over the other, they should seriously consider expanding their use of open source technologies. |