In this issue:
- FOSS, the DOD way
- Document Freedom Day
- SITA FOSS migration
- ZIMBRA mail client
- Organisations support Linux
- Department of Public Works
- Useful FOSS software
- The last word
South Africa Open Source Software
In this issue:
In this issue:
In this issue:
In this issue:
Published in August 2006 by the National Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). It outlines the background leading up to the approval of the policy.
Annex C of the approved FOSS Policy for South African Government.
This was faxed out from the OGCIO on 24 December 2007. The strategy states it is built on a previous draft strategy from the Presidential National Commission in 2004, which built on a GITOC strategy developed in 2003. The strategy covered three phases viz. Initiation, Enhancement, and Mature. Annex B is part of the approved Policy for FOSS in South African Government.
These recommendations followed after the National Cabinet approval in August 2003 on the policy on OSS. These recommendations proposed a set of policy enhancements to shift the overall policy posture from one that was neutral-to-enabling to one that was enabling-to-proactive. They also incorporated Open Content into the policy and brought to the fore important issues around intellectual property rights and Open Standards.
This was a lessons learnt and a guide to help US government personnel and contractors implement open technology development (OTD) for software within government projects, particularly in defence.
This document marks a parting between South Africa and many other governments around the world. Whilst South Africa was early to adopt excellent FOSS policy and MIOS standards, other governments had started from 2011 or so to share implementation advice and guidelines. The UK government is another good example of this as well as the EU.
The National Advisory Council on Innovation is a body set up by South African Act of Parliament to advise the Minister of Arts Culture Science and Technology, as well as Cabinet as a whole, on Science and Technology issues. They formulated these recommendations which included non-negotiable open standards as well as a FOSS policy encouraging the use of FOSS and ensuring a level playing field between FOSS and proprietary software with regards to procurement.