Open Government
President Obama Knows Open Source - On January 20 2009, President Obama's first day in office, the Open Government initiative was issued to provide transparency and access to Government data. Learn how our Government is using open source and the opportunities this provides for you.
The memo issued by the president included the following statements:
" My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government."
Under the initiative, government agencies are required to provide meaningful data and to make that data available. The data.gov site was developed using open source software and provides access to more than 180,000 data sets.
While the initiatives of President Obama have continued to progress the utilization of open source in the government this trend was not started by him.
Below is a short list of events documenting government utilization of open source:
- 2001: the White House moved to Linux for its web servers and also adopted an open source content management platform.
- 2003: the U.S. Army commissioned a study on "The Business Case for Open Source". Based on the results of that study the first DOD-wide approval for the acquisition of open source was provided.
- 2004: the Office of Management and Budget approved the use of open source for the government as a whole
- 2006: Congress passes a law requiring that all non-classified government contracts are online by 2008. Open source software is used to develop the http://USAspending.gov website;
- 2006: The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) cut its datacenter operating and upgrading costs to the tune of US$15 million by migrating to Red Hat Enterprise Linux
- 2009: Open Government Initiative is directed by President Obama to create government transparency
- 2011: U.S. Departments of Education and Defense announce the learning registry, a new open-source community
- 2012: U.S. Navy utilizes Linux to direct drone fleet.
- 2012: NASA launched the code.nasa.gov website to share it open source projects and source code.
- 2012: The White House announces it presence on GitHub to share and improve tools with the taxpayers
- 2014: NASA publishes its open source portfolio, consisting of over 1,000 projects.
- 2015: The Zumwalt-class battleship, one of the Navy's most advanced destroyers uses open source and was delivered. The ship is scheduled to be commissioned in 2016.
The utilization of open source in government has increased steadily over recent years and today open source is a component of some of the most significant government programs.
The U.S. Army is the single largest install base for Red Hat Linux and Linux distributions are utilized by the Navy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and many other government agencies.See Linux Adopters (Wikipedia)
See the applications page at the data.gov site to see some of the commercial applications that have been developed using government data. The lists and types of app will amaze you!
The adoption and use of Linux by governments in not just an America event. The utilization of Linux in governments is occurring globally. China, Russia, France, Germany and Spain are a few among the many countries that have active government programs utilizing Linux. Actives projects include areas such as banking, military and the running of government administration.
Financial Opportunity
Personal Opportunity - Free software gives you access to billions of dollars of software at no cost. Use this software for your business, personal use or to develop a profitable skill. Access to source code provides access to a level of capabilities/information that companies protect though copyrights. Open source is a core component of the Internet and it is available to you. Leverage the billions of dollars in resources and capabilities to build a career, establish a business or change the world. The potential is endless for those who understand the opportunity.
Business Opportunity - Goldman Sachs, IBM and countless large corporations are leveraging open source to reduce costs, develop products and increase their bottom lines. Learn what these companies know about open source and how open source can give you the advantage.
U.S. Government - On January 20 2009, President Obama's first day in office, the Open Government initiative was issued to provide transparency and access to Government data. Learn how our Government is using open source and the opportunities this provides for you. Leverage Use open Government data or
Free Books
The Free Books Library is a collection of thousands of the most popular public domain books in an online readable format. The collection includes great classical literature and more recent works where the U.S. copyright has expired. These books are yours to read and use without restrictions.
The Library of History by Diodorus the Sicilian is one of the most highly regarded universal histories in antiquities. His work includes the history of Egypt, Asia, Africa, Greece and Europe. His book is a must read for research of ancient history.
The Histories of Herodotus written in 440 BC is considered to be the founding work of history in Western literature. His history included stories and fables but he claimed to have traveled extensively and learned about many countries through direct observation.
The thesis of Stolen Legacy is that the Egyptians created what is wrongly called Greek philosophy. Dr. James argues that the African origin of Greek Philosophy is well known but rarely discussed. Ancient Greek historians such as Herodotus and Diodorus the Sicilian wrote in significant detail about the contributions of Egypt. Egyptian technology and libraries were unmatched and Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Plato studied there. The contribution of Africa to the intellectual foundation of modern knowledge is tremendous but unacknowledged.
Bible Study The King James Bible (kjv), World English Bible (web) and Bible in Basic English (bbe) are all examples of public domain books. The King James Bible (kjv) online uses the content from these books and open source software to enhance Bible study capabilities. The site includes the verse of the day, search tools, christian literature and links to related content. It demonstrates the use of open source to create a valuable service.
Free Software
Free Software provides computer programs and capabilities at no cost but more importantly, it provides the freedom to run, edit, contribute to, and share the software. The importance of free software is a matter of access, not price. Software at no cost is a benefit but ownership rights to the software and source code is far more significant.
Free Office Software - The Libre Office suite provides top desktop productivity tools for free. This includes, a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation engine, drawing and flowcharting, database and math applications. Libre Office is available for Linux or Windows.
Linux is an open source computer operating system (OS) used on laptops, games, watches and super computers. The software and the source code used for Linux are both available to you at no cost. Use this powerful resource to your advantage.
Source Code - Want to change a program or know how it works? Open Source provides the source code for its programs so that anyone can use, modify or learn how to write those programs themselves. Visit the GNU source code repositories to download the source.
Educational Materials
Study at Harvard, Stanford or MIT - Open edX provides free online courses from Harvard, MIT, Columbia, UC Berkeley and other top Universities. Hundreds of courses for almost all major subjects and course levels. Open edx also offers some paid courses and selected certifications.
Linux Manual Pages - A man or manual page is a form of software documentation found on Linux/Unix operating systems. Topics covered include computer programs (including library and system calls), formal standards and conventions, and even abstract concepts.
