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New Hampshire Passes 'Open Source Bill'
Plugh writes "In a victory for transparency and openness in government, and saving tax dollars, New Hampshire has passed HB418. State agencies are now required by law to consider open source software when acquiring software, and to promote the use of open data formats."
"Didn't meet our requirements."
With that statement, any choice can be made. It is impossible to legislate what people "should" do, particularly when dealing with large bureaucracies.
Advice: on VPS providers
It's interesting to see how a government defines what "open source" means. Some of the wording might actually restrict certain packages, for example:
As a professional open source developer myself, I have to admit that documentation isn't often a strong point of open source, and internal file formats are no exception.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
I. For all software acquisitions, each state agency, in consultation with the department of information technology, shall:
(a) Consider whether proprietary or open source software offers the most cost effective software solution for the agency, based on consideration of all associated acquisition, support, maintenance, and training costs;
(b) Except as provided in subparagraphs (d) and (e), acquire software products primarily on a value-for-money basis, based on consideration of the cost factors as described in subparagraph (a);
(c) Provide a brief analysis of the purchase decision, including consideration of the cost factors in subparagraph (a), to the chief information officer;
(d) Avoid the acquisition of products that do not comply with open standards for interoperability or data storage; and
(e) Avoid the acquisition of products that are known to make unauthorized transfers of information to, or permit unauthorized control of or modification of a state agency’s computer.
II. All state procurement documents related to software acquisitions shall include language that requires adherence to this section.
I know this is Slashdot and people will rush to post moronic questions just to get first post that would be easily answered if they would bother to read the links, and that will get modded up instantly by other morons . . . but the text of HB418 is actually quite specific. For example:
I. For all software acquisitions, each state agency, in consultation with the department of information technology, shall:
...
(d) Avoid the acquisition of products that do not comply with open standards for interoperability or data storage; and
(e) Avoid the acquisition of products that are known to make unauthorized transfers of information to, or permit unauthorized control of or modification of a state agency’s computer.
There's a lot of other stuff too, including stuff about open data formats.
How about we just get rid of government and let everyone decide what to do with their own goddamn money.
Because most of us like having things like sewage systems, streets, and someone to get the drunk drivers off the roads. Of course, with no roads, I guess the drunk drivers wouldn't be a problem.
And if you think people would band together to pay for basic infrastructure without any government-style coordination, you're out of your mind.
Open source is great. I use it for all kinds of things, but I don't have much faith that government can make it work to anyone's benefit.
Why not? They make proprietary software work for people's benefit. What's so different about open source software?
Let people keep their earnings and decide what solutions are best for themselves.
Most people would be more concerned about basic security than software solutions if you were to remove the government.
Otherwise, you might as well just have them at least support real business that actually employs someone.
Government is real business. Seriously. They provide services for their customers in exchange for money. Sure, the people who receive services and the people who pay aren't necessarily the same people (i.e. I pay road tax, but my street hasn't been repaved since it was built in the 1930s, since apparently no one knows how to rebrick a #*$%ing street anymore), but the concept is the same. You even get to vote for the officers, which is more than an shareholder does.
The government employs people, just like a business. It pays those people in real, actual money - which is more than many business do, what with stock options and whatnot. Government can't run without government employees. Those employees are regular people, just like you and me. I've met quite a few very competent sysadmins who were GS rated government employees.
Get rid of the government, and you'll find yourself needing to solve a lot of problems. Every solution to those problems will evolve into government. It's the way of the world. Don't like it? Build a shack in the middle of Idaho and live off the land.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
I'll answer any questions people have about the bill... post comments below.
This will be the FIRST Open Source and Open Data bill in any of the 50 states.
I'm very happy... And yes, I'm a geek. I've got a slashdot UID of 5 digits, have contributed to the Linux kernel and other project, tech edited a book on Drupal, and been doing techy things for over 25 years now...
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Bingo. And the Open Data stuff uses the suggested principles formulated by the Open Government Data group including Prof. Larry Lessig.
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Considering that I'm a libertarian (and member of the Free State Project, so not just a iffy libertarian, but one who packed up and moved his life to New Hampshire, and eventually ran for office, won, and got this legislation passed...), this is FAR from Nanny-State.
Government needs to be accountable on how taxpayer money is spent. Individuals can buy whatever they like, but I want the system to buy only the best choice for the least money, and if open source is considered, it'll often win. Not always, but more than it does now. (NH does use some open source now... FYI, including Apache webservers, for example, for some things)
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I've got a slashdot UID of 5 digits, have contributed to the Linux kernel and other project, tech edited a book on Drupal, and been doing techy things for over 25 years now...
But have you ever (and I'm quite serious about this) worked on a government project where acquisitions are made, to understand the kind of "We'll get what we want, it's just a matter of the right amount of paperwork" shenanigans that go on? And as such, do you honestly think the CIO of any agency will actually care?
I'm also curious -- the legislation that others quoted doesn't make any mention of the size of the acquisition. Does this mean that every credit card purchase of software will require such justification to be sent to the CIO? And if so, do you honestly expect anything other than copy and paste boilerplate explanations that will be so numerous and repetitive as to be essentially meaningless?
Perhaps those issues are addressed, but to be honest, it seems like one of those "sounds like a great idea" measures that will increase the amount of paperwork that people have to get their jobs done, and at best will only provide some technical person a little bit of fodder to demonstrate to management that his suggestion to use some sort of free software to accomplish the task isn't completely off the mark.
Yes, which is why the Open Data part of this bill is even more exciting than the Open Source part of it.
I. The commissioner shall develop a statewide information policy based on the following principles of open government data. According to these principles, open data is data that is:
(a) Complete. All public data is made available, unless subject to valid privacy, security, or privilege limitations.
(b) Primary. Data is collected at the source, with the highest possible level of granularity, rather than in aggregate or modified forms.
(c) Timely. Data is made available as quickly as necessary to preserve the value of the data.
(d) Accessible. Data is available to the widest range of users for the widest range of purposes.
(e) Machine processable. Data is reasonably structured to allow automated processing.
(f) Nondiscriminatory. Data is available to anyone, with no requirement of registration.
(g) Nonproprietary. Data is available in a format over which no entity has exclusive control, with the exception of national or international published standards.
(h) License-free. Data is not subject to any copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret regulation. Reasonable privacy, security, and privilege restrictions may be allowed.
Compare that to http://www.opengovdata.org/home/8principles
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You seem to be under the impression that if the government stops providing some services then those services won't be provided by other institutions. This is certainly _not_ true for all government activity.
Some services, yes. Not all. I'm well aware there are portions of the government that could be privatized successfully.
You seem to be under the impression that other institutions would provide all useful services provided by the government. That's certainly not true as well.
The idea that streets would not be built if it were not by the government is ridiculous.
Your street maybe. I'm probably the second wealthiest person on my street, only after a guy who inherited his mother's slumlord properties. I bring in around $2k/month. My street would be a loss.
Street maintenance could certainly be privatized, but someone has to hire and pay the company to do it, and someone has to make sure the poorer areas are maintained. Only a government is capable of this.
I'm not a hardcore socialist. I don't believe the government should own and control industry, outside of necessary regulatory duties (i.e. keep lead paint out of our food, make sure 1lb is really 1lb, etc.). I do believe the government is required to act in places where capitalism fails. Basic public infrastructure is one of those places.
The key difference between a government and a regular business is that a government extracts payment under the threat of violence, or in some cases, by using actual violence.
Companies would do the same if they were not prevented from doing so (by - you guessed it - the government). The government is a company who has a monopoly on violence against the populace.
I once lived somewhere where the electric and gas services were provided by a private company. If I didn't pay, I was under the threat of freezing to death in the winter. I don't see much difference.
Also, a share holder in a public company can trade his shares if he does not like how the company is run.
And you can squat in a shack in Idaho. Or you can move to somewhere where there is no government, like Somalia. Have fun with that.
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
Some of both... and every shade between, and some new flavors you have heard of... like female libertarians... yes, they exist, really.
Come visit NH, meet all kinds of folks, and see for yourself.
Feb 23-26th: http://freestateproject.org/libertyforum
In June: http://freestateproject.org/content/porcfest
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Can you move to Wisconsin and run for governor?
We have the best government that money can buy.
No, you don't understand the bill...
It doesn't REQUIRE them to use Open Source over other solutions, but to consider it, using cost benefits answers. And all of your objections are moot then, since this bill essentially DOES what you want it to do: "government adopting Common Open Data formats and selecting the software based on performance makes more sense." (performance and price = total cost benefit analysis, right?)
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The CIO of NH (ie the Commission of NH DOIT) supported this legislation, because it will enable them to track and review purchases for EXACTLY that sort of reason. And in State Government, nothing is ever 'credit card purchase' of software, or shouldn't be.
So I'll reverse the question to you: Have you ever worked at State Government?
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No, NH is much nicer. Come visit us!
I was in Wisconsin last year, for a 10th anniversary party celebrating Neil Gaiman's American Gods novel, at House on the Rock. Neil was dressed as Doctor Who (4th Doctor), I was dressed as a Neil Gaiman audio book. Fun times were had by all.
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Well I think its a fine idea IF and only if they are allowed to pick what they consider the best tool for the job that fits instead of having to take FOSS even where the FOSS solution doesn't work. For example if you were forced to take a completely FOSS replacement for the integration of WinDesktop plus AD, GPOs, Exchange, and Sharepoint what you'd get is a big fucking mess of software that was frankly never designed to work together and written by different teams with different goals. That is because nobody has spent the money to develop a complete top to bottom solution like the above using only FOSS so what is out there is pretty much DIY, or at least it was when i looked at it last in 09. There are other cases where NOT using the FOSS solution would be stupid, for example webservers. Significant money has been spent developing FOSS for this role and its solid, well maintained, and robust. There is a good reason why Apache runs the web and that's because its solid and well maintained.
So as long as they are allowed to use the best tool for each job and not forced to pick one OR the other simply by philosopy I think its a smart idea. Now watch all the hatred i get for daring to say that FOSS isn't the answer to everything and every job, but the simple fact is sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. For a final example I would never recommend Linux for SMB desktops simply because getting QuickBooks running with full functionality on Linux is damned near impossible and SMBs live and die by QB and there simply isn't a FOSS equivalent to the depth of QB when it comes to SMB management. Conversely I wouldn't think of using anything BUT FOSS in the embedded space, the FOSS dev boards like Arduino are well known, have plenty of add ons, and most of the code is already written and free to use, its a no brainer. But I always try to use the best tool for the job instead of treating code as a religion so what do I know.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Good eye.
In order to get the bill passed.
They are in the midst of rolling out an E-Court system, and they felt this would get in the way... and besides which it was a turf war (Legislative versus Judicial)
I wanted the bill to pass, so I said 'Ok, you guys are exempt'. Such is politics.
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Actually, this is why the Secretary of State's office, via the State Archivist, came out in favor of the bill:
They have punch cards they legally must retain, and no way to read them. Data without the code/hardware to read it is useless, but we have to keep it all.
So the above is really true. Open formats are vital for data to be historically useful.
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I think that open source won long ago. The primary driving force behind closed source is Microsoft. And, Microsoft no longer has the world's population trying to force feed cash to Microsoft. Things are changing, Microsoft has less money to spend on bribes, and those stocking stuffers are more targeted now.
Eventually, the world will realize that it makes no sense to pay licensing fees for something that has a free equivalent.
The biggest obstacle to adoption of open source now, are all those kids of the '90's and '00's who grew up using Microsoft, believing that manipulating Microsoft's GUI made them "computer scientists". It's a slow process, but stupidity and ignorance can be healed.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Sorry to hear that. But what you are saying is that, given your limited resources, you'd prefer to spend money in things other than improving the quality of your street. That is totally reasonable.
My street doesn't get improved (it was a WPA project from the 1930s - the city won't rebrick it for some reason, and they can't pave over the bricks because the historical society won't let them), but that's besides the point. If I were to go out and rebrick the part of the street I own, it wouldn't do any good for the part of street in front of the vacant lot two houses down, or the part in front of the old woman down the street who gets $300/month on social security.
The city, on the streets that it actually does improve, improves streets all at once, to the same quality, with the same materials. And no, there's no way the people on my street would come together on this. The old woman can't pay, the drug dealer across the street wouldn't be interested, the drunk dude on the corner would just want to start a fight, etc.
Poorer areas don't have to be maintained. It would be nice if they were, but people might want to user their money for other things.
Thus increasing the class disparity in this country. Think about the consequences of that kind of thinking for a while. Look at countries where it prevails.
Places like India, where some people make good money and live in nice houses, while other people literally live in dumps, recycling garbage to buy enough rice to stay alive. Places like Nigeria, where the population lives in squalor, except for the people making money hand over fist in the oil trade.
A large class disparity makes for a dissatisfied, bitter populace. That breeds security problems. I don't know about you, but I like not living behind a barbed wire fence.
If you regard the company as violent for cutting your services, you'd have to regard your neighbors/friends/family/coworkers in the same way for not helping you pay the bill. Why are the gas company owners any more responsible for your wellbeing than your neighbor or your friend?
I never said I regarded the company as violent, or that the company was somehow responsible for my well-being. I was pointing out that I would suffer potentially fatal consequences if I failed to pay my bill. Not paying taxes is actually safer - the most they'll do is garnish my wages or put me in jail.
I don't think I'd like Somalia at all...
Somalia is what happens when you have an ineffectual government. People are people - regardless of religion, culture, whatever - we as a group are greedy bastards who look after ourselves and those we care about first. We don't organize well, and when we do, it's usually as a special interest group or a mob.
To keep a people calm and peaceful, they have to be satisfied with their situation (or at least satisfied enough that they won't risk losing what they have). First, you need security - you have to feel safe in your home and about on your business. The government provides that. Next you need a standard of living that isn't disgraceful. Most people here have that - including most poor people. That's provided either by the government or by the economic system it supports. Next you need the people to feel they have some control over their lives. We have democracy and the government prevents most monopolies from forcing themselves on the populace.
When you don't have these things, the people don't stay peaceful. Where do gangs form in this country? Places where the standard of living is the lowest and security is lax.
This is out of order, but it shouldn't hurt the context:
Agreed. I believe this is the primary function of government, although I'd call it an enterprise instead of a company.
I believe the primary function of government is to fill in the spaces where capit
Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach either, do tech support.
LaTeX resumes are for people who graduated from MIT/Caltech or are otherwise celebrities in their fields and can coast by name alone.
Not knockin' LaTeX, just that resumes are not an ideal application of LaTeX.
Here I must respectfully disagree. LaTeX is ideal for a résumé. My own résumé is written in LaTeX and the layout is elegant and highly professional-looking. I output it to a pdf and send that when I'm able.
The thing that pisses me off is companies which require that I send a .doc or .docx formatted résumé. Where able, I politely request to send my résumé in pdf format, but it's not always an option. So therefore, I have a résumé in those formats, but the visual differences between the two are striking. Word looks frankly like shit.
To answer your other question, under Win7, you can activate what's called "US-International"keyboard under Control Panel --> keyboards and have a small icon in your bar that you can switch between US standard and US international. With US international active, all one has to do is type a ' character and it pauses waiting for another keypress. If the keypress is a letter like 'a' or 'e' then it'll produce that accented character à or é. When I use Win7, I usually keep it on US standard so I can type the quote marks with no trouble.
"A government is a body of people usually -- notably -- ungoverned." -Shepherd Book
Try holding Microsoft's feet to the fire with that one please... they have an "open specification" but they don't follow it...
the above quote is from wikipedia
Plus it's got patents involved with it that aren't compatible with GPL
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
Your document is a good example of the problems proprietary formats can cause.
The reason your document's form fields do not work in Word is not because of issues with LibreOffice, it's a compatibility issue between Word's binary format (W95-2000 .doc) and the newer .docx format. You would have the same problem using different versions of Word.
The check boxes used in your form have been deprecated in Word 2007's .docx, and are only accessible under the Developer tab of the Ribbon interface. To get it to work the way you expect, you'll need to save it as a .doc from LibreOffice, which will force Office 2007 to switch to the legacy mode.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Agreed, the arrogance is thick in government bureaucracies. EVERYTHING is political, nothing is done on merit or because it is the most efficient. It is really tiring to watch this day-in and day-out when you come from the business world or a non-profit where you had to make choices based solely on efficiency or merit. Having worked in one of these government environments I can safely say that any lifer (employee of ten years or more) is sucking down tax payer money, floating jobs to their friends, and trading favors on a constant basis. This reality is also openly talked about as these people feel immune from accountability.
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
As the submitter of the story, I just want to make 3 points:
1. Seth Cohn is a prime sponsor of the bill, and a fairly hardcore slashdotter. J'raxis is, like myself, an emeritus Director of Research for the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance... and a fairly hardcore slashdotter.
Q: What happens when the geeks rule? A: New Hampshire, baby!
2. I learned about the Free State Project right here on slashdot, back in 2003. How cool is that?
3. This is for real. This is not just web slacktivism. This is people taking back control of the government. AND IT'S HAPPENING. If you have a vaguely libertarian bone in your body, you really do owe it to yourself to see what's going on in New Hampshire.
I'd strongly recommend coming to the NH Liberty Forum. People come every year, and after the experience, go back to their home states. Just long enough... to pack!
Part of the Second American Revolution!
About 8 years ago, my employer adopted a policy which favored open standards and open source software. Today the site license for Microsoft products like Office and Exchange continues to rule as one administrator's secretary adopts a new version of Office and proceeds to distribute data in the new default format which is incompatible with previous versions so everyone upgrades because its easier than learning that Open/Libre Office can handle .docx and .xlsx files or using a Save As to ensure backward compatibility. Acess remains a problem as the stand-alone "database" file continues as the default.
The increasing number of Mac and *nix users learn to deal with the new file format but the new version virus always spreads because no one will enforce the policy and damn few people understand that there are alternatives.