Tag: Government

Time to ditch US tech for homegrown options, says Dutch parliament

The motions were submitted and all passed yesterday during a discussion in the Netherlands’ House of Representatives on concerns about government data being shipped overseas. While varied, they all center on the theme of calling on the government to replace software and hardware made by US tech companies, acquire new contracts with Dutch companies who offer similar services, and generally safeguard the country’s digital sovereignty.

“With each IT service our government moves to American tech giants, we become dumber and weaker,” Dutch MP Barbara Kathmann, author of four of the motions, told The Register.

See https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/dutch_parliament_us_tech/

Open source software can benefit South African youth, fight joblessness

This is most definitely the case, and was one of the reasons that the South African Cabinet approved (and never rescinded?) the policy that indicated that all future software developed for government would be based on open standards, and that government would migrate its current software to open source.

It was all about reducing costs, and/or investing in the local economy to create jobs, and also to establish SA’s digital sovereignty.

Open source software provides a very low barrier of entry to learning, as well as for businesses. Importantly, it also makes it easy to examine how it works, and even to modify it (in other words, to customise it for local use).

Some claim that open source may not just be dropped in and ready for use in government. That is quite true, but it should still be a LOT cheaper than trying to implement Oracle ERP in a UK municipality? A country can’t really go wrong with using open standards (anyone can compete) and investing in local skills and businesses.

We have heard very little (to nothing) about open source in the South African government since 2008/2009 or so. It is very refreshing to see this being given some media time again.

See https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/opinion/2025-03-05-opinion-open-source-software-can-benefit-youth-fight-joblessness

Digital Sovereignty in the BRICS Countries

Published by Cambridge University Press as an open access publication, so it is freely downloadable from https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/digital-sovereignty-in-the-brics-countries/27E9FD7E4579C76C8D4BA52F7670B431.

It is an interesting analysis on this topic of Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa, and is very relevant to those involved in digital governance, cybersecurity, or e-Government.

Really nothing we don’t know about, but interesting to see they also picked up on great intentions but lacklustre execution of planning.

Chapter 4 deals with South Africa, and what I found especially appealing were the parts about FOSS Activism and decentralised social networks on pages 30-31, 190, and 192-209.

Yes, many of those FOSS activists are still around and just as passionate as back in the day, except most have left government service by now. They still keep in contact though.

German Sovereign Tech Fund: Investing over €23 million in 60 open technologies

From their blog:

Throughout our second year, the Sovereign Tech Fund identified and invested in even more foundational open source technologies. With nearly 500 submissions proposing over €114 million in work since we started accepting applications, the need for support has never been more clear. By financing critical projects like Log4j, we’re commissioning much-needed maintenance, security work, and improvements in the public interest. The work on these components benefits all the companies, organizations, and individuals who depend on the open technologies that comprise our shared digital infrastructure.

In August, we announced a new initiative, the fellowship for maintainers. It addresses a critical challenge in the open source ecosystem: how we can support the dedicated individuals who keep our digital infrastructure running. The fellowship is designed around the lived reality of how many maintainers work: stretched across multiple technologies, multi-faceted, and often behind the scenes. In the pilot year of the program, it will pay up to five maintainers of critical open source components for 12 months, for work that is hard to quantify for funding applications.

See https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/news/celebrating-two-years-of-empowering-public-digital-infrastructure

Kelsey Hightower: If governments rely on FOSS, they should fund it

Acclaimed engineer Kelsey Hightower, who stopped coding for money in 2023, remains an influential figure in the world of software, and he’s proposing something that might stir up the open source community.

Funding open source is an ongoing hot topic. During a chat at Civo’s recent Navigate event, Hightower joked with us how companies were happy to spend big on cloud subscriptions but tended to skimp when it came to paying a comparatively token amount for open source.

Open source developers, however, require reimbersement, and Hightower has some interesting ideas on how that could be accomplished. “I think we have all got a little complacent,” he tells The Register.

It’s true that much of the open source that is used by governments, are often essential, otherwise they’d be paying an arm and a leg for some commercial cloud subscription. It’s important, not only to ensure getting some support, but to also ensure that the software is kept up to date and continues to receive support into the future.

Some governments do actually contribute already if I think of some examples from France, Germany, and the EU itself. FOSS software being used is not just the glossy front-ends that users see, it is often the essential plumbing holding the wide area networks together, or keeping the storage and databases going. In many cases, I’m pretty sure that CEOs are not even aware of how much open source software is used in their organisations.

See https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/19/kelsey_hightower_civo

New UK government should embrace open source, says industry non-profit

The UK government should make better use of open source technologies in the public sector and adopt a more open approach to AI development, according to OpenUK.

The non-profit group, which represents the country’s open source community, made the call to action just hours before polls closed ahead of the 2024 general election last week in its latest manifesto launch.

A key talking point in the new manifesto centers around fostering closer ties between the open source ecosystem and government, which the group has been keen to push in recent years.

Open source could, the organization says, supercharge the UK economy and unlock marked benefits for public sector bodies.

“The Open Manifesto is a rallying cry to develop skills that will enable jobs in our left-behind rural communities. It’s also a call to seize our late-mover advantage in the public sector, to build the next generation of open source skills and management across the UK public sector,” said Amanda Brock, CEO of OpenUK.

“Only by doing this will the digital infrastructure we all rely on today be allowed to flourish. This will both revolutionize the UK’s public services and bolster our already strong homegrown community.”

From https://www.itpro.com/software/open-source/new-uk-government-should-embrace-open-source-says-industry-non-profit

German state of Schleswig-Holstein ditches Windows, Microsoft Office for Linux and LibreOffice

Schleswig-Holstein, Germany’s most northern state, is starting its switch from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, and is planning to move from Windows to Linux on the 30,000 PCs it uses for local government functions.

The announcement (in German) was made yesterday by the state’s Minister-President Daniel Gunther, who has served in that position since 2017. According to a translated version of the announcement, independence was a key motivation for switching to open source software.

This is unlike the reasons that were given by Munich and Lower Saxony which were stayed to be cost savings, and then Microsoft discounted their services. Back when LiMux started, it was mostly seen as a way to save money. Now the focus is far more on data protection, privacy and security. Consider that the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) recently found that the European Commission’s use of Microsoft 365 breaches data protection law for EU institutions and bodies.”

See https://www.theregister.com/2024/04/04/germanys_northernmost_state_ditches_windows/

Estonia has published its online classroom software, Schoolaby, as free and open source software

Estonia has published its online classroom software, Schoolaby, as free and open source software under the EUPL licence. While this category of software attracted a lot of interest during the COVID lockdowns, the developers highlight that it can also assist with schooling for children who are absent due to illness or for other reasons.

Maybe the authors haven’t thought that online learning is here to stay. Not in the sense that it will replace the classroom or the teacher but rather to be of extra help – student who would like to investigate more; others who would need more time to understand; others who didn’t understand because in the class some students were unruly, or they had interruptions…

https://schoolaby.com/en/

State of OSS in Nigeria

OSOR has just published the first version of its report on the state of open source in Nigeria. This report offers an overview of the country’s recently initiated digital government reforms. Structuring 36 federated states, the Nigerian central government is also coordinating a wider policy work with the other member states of the African Union.

As such, there are currently no policies in Nigeria that mandate the use of open source software (OSS) in public administrations. However, the ongoing efforts at the federal level in Nigeria are focused on creating a more open and transparent government system through various forms of collaboration and governance.

While the institutionalisation of OSS has not yet occurred in Nigeria, the country’s economic standing places it at the forefront of innovation in West Africa. Nigeria boasts a significant open source community, led by two generations of developers who have spearheaded the local open source movement.

See https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/state-oss-nigeria

No More Windows! Indian Defense Services are Switching to Linux

What’s Happening: According to a recent report, the Defence Ministry of India has decided to replace Windows with an in-house developed Linux distro called ‘Maya’ on all computers that are connected to the Internet.

While details are very slim on this distro, we know that it is based on Ubuntu and has been developed locally within a very short 6-month period.

When to Expect: Initially, Maya will be installed on all internet-connected computers in the South Block of the Secretariat Building in New Delhi.

That block houses important offices such as the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Defence, and the Ministry of External Affairs.

But, the Ministry of Defence will be the first one to get Maya, the official directive has already gone live, with an August 15 deadline.

It is good to see that more and more governments are pushing for the use of Linux across critical administration agencies. And, this certainly is a big push in India.

See https://news.itsfoss.com/indian-govt-linux-windows/