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WhiteHouse.gov Releases Open Source Code
schliz writes "The White House has released four custom modules for the Drupal content management system. The modules address scalability, communication, and accessibility for disabled users, and the release is expected to benefit both the Drupal community and the WhiteHouse.gov site as the code is reviewed and improved by the open source community." Reader ChiefMonkeyGrinder adds an opinion piece with a somewhat envious view from the UK: "Open source is treated as something akin to devil-worshipping in some parts of government. So, the idea that a major project in the government backyard would be based on something as basic as Drupal is pretty far-fetched. No, this side of the Atlantic would have involved a closed-tender process; a decision made [behind] closed doors based on proprietary software and we'd be completely in the dark about costs, about delays, and about functionality."
AC,
you are basically right that the French have fought for centuries, and they've done well in most of those wars. With Napoleon they took on the whole world and nearly won. But since 1870 France has pretty much lost every war it has been in. In WWI the French did do most of the fighting, but it wasn't until the Brittish and Americans showed up in numbers that they started winning. France was simply a battleground and a footnote in WWII: France was a Major Power in May 1940, and before the end of June it had surrendered. The wars in Indochine (Vietnam) and Algiera weren't been any better. After a 140 years without a major victory, France's reputation as a nation of warriors is tarnished, and so it will remain until France wins something on its own.
BTW: I said as much when I lived in France. Yes, I'm perfectly capable of being an ugly American when I feel like it. This point of view wasn't popular, but what could they say?
- doug
PS: The French did win a battle with Greenpeace in 1985, but I don't think that counts as winning a war.