[News] Australian Ministers Kick Off Debate About Free Software

Open source the biggest potential game changer for government: Senator Lundy

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| Senator Lundy, a former Shadow Minister for IT, said she'd elected to focus
| on open source as the biggest potential game changer across the portfolios
| she's involved in.
|
| [...]
|
| "The key issue that needs to be solved is independent invention. IP doesn't
| cope with the commonly occurring 'idea whose time has come' - the patent
| system considers that a crime," Tridgell said.
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[url]http://www.itnews.com.au/News/73376,open-source-the-biggest-potential-game-changer-for-government-senator-lundy.aspx[/url]


Recent:

Open source increases its share

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| BUSINESS generated directly from open source software in Australia is worth
| about $300 million a year, with government a large contributor to the pie, a
| study shows. Â*
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[url]http://www.australianit.news.com.au/story/0,,23462470-5013040,00.html?from=public_rss[/url]


Local Government Urged to Consider Open Source

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| The senior IT officer from a West Australian shire says open source software
| can provide a way forward for councils suffering budgetary constraints.
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[url]http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;546692901[/url]


Related:

Governments slammed for anti-competitive software tendering practices Â* Â*

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| A leading Australian open source advocate has called for an end for to
| tender lock-outs of competitors to Microsoft, claiming the practice
| is costing Australian taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each
| year.
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[url]http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/11496/53/[/url]


Feds revise IT procurement model

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| The federal government has launched version two of the SourceIT
| model contracts and user notes aimed at simplifying procurement of
| information technology 12 months after the first version.
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[url]http://www.linuxworld.com.au/index.php?id=805606582&rid=-50[/url]


Governments Must Reject Gates' $3 Bid to Addict Next Billion PC Users

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| "Microsoft's strategy of getting developing nations hooked on its
| software was clearly outlined by Bill Gates almost a decade ago," said
| Con Zymaris, CEO of long-standing open source firm Cybersource.
|
| Specifically, Bill Gates, citing China as an example, said:
| Â*
| Â* "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but
| Â* people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though.
| Â* As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours.
| Â* They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to
| Â* collect sometime in the next decade."[1]
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[url]http://www.cybersource.com.au/press/gates_set_to_addict_next_billion.html[/url]