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Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

zdnet.com

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Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#21

Post by rawgabbit »

recursivedoubts wrote: post #12
austin-cheney wrote: post #5

The US government, especially the military, is largely allergic to software. This is slowly starting to change, but only in small pockets. I am aware of three software teams in the military but they are highly specialized with small dedicated customers. I have tried several times to get Node.js into the military on approved software lists for internal development and its a huge struggle. I suspect the main culprits a…

i can think of no act more deviously effective in bringing down the american empire than introducing the NPM ecosystem into its vital bloodstream, well played comrade!

If you had to select a single programming language, for US government agencies to use, which one would you pick?

Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#22

Post by ohples »

bauruine wrote: post #9

There was a talk about this at this years FOSDEM [0] Regarding the "Several European countries are betting on open-source software for their technology. In the United States, eh, not so much." I thought software developed by the US govt is public domain? At least that's how I remember sqlite got it's license because it was developed for the US Navy. [0] https://fosdem.org/2024/schedule/event/fosdem-2024-3401-the-...

Ah yes. Except most software the US Government uses was developed by contractors .

Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#24

Post by recursivedoubts »

rawgabbit wrote: post #21
recursivedoubts wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i can think of no act more deviously effective in bringing down the american empire than introducing the NPM ecosystem into its vital bloodstream, well played comrade!

If you had to select a single programming language, for US government agencies to use, which one would you pick?

go or java, in that order

Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#25

Post by dwheeler »

This doesn't require all software used by Switzerland to be open source. Per the article:

> This new law requires all public bodies to disclose the source code of software developed by or for them unless third-party rights or security concerns prevent it. This "public money, public code" approach aims to enhance government operations' transparency, security, and efficiency.

Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#26

Post by fmobus »

mr90210 wrote: post #6

For the untested in this subject you’ve got to research about Brazil’s effort to use as much open source as they can at the state level. They’ve been doing so for nearly 20 years. https://opensource.com/government/12/8/brazil-forefront-open...

Yet the Brazilian government releases little of its own code publicly. I'm still waiting for the ballot machine code.

Brazilian government's relation with open technology is such a weird thing. Lula and Dilma government were huge sponsors of free software conferences like FISL, with several ministries and agencies with huge booths and whatnot - but most of their actual technical side was just "we use libre office or Zimbra or whatever". All talk, no action.

One thing that specially made me angry was the lack of commitment with open data. The post office was eager to sponsor conferences, but kept zip code data under lock and key, only allowing a CAPTCHAd query tool for people, and selling API access to companies for huge prices. This was actually only fixed... during the right wing governments that followed (can't remember if Temer or Bolsonaro).

Re: Switzerland now requires all government software to be open source

#27

Post by highcountess »

Log_out_ wrote: post #3

Obvious strategy to reduce legaö risks like the postmaster debacle.

For anyone who has not heard of the “postmaster debacle”, as I; it is a stunning atrocity of government that appears to have affected 3,650 people who were hounded and persecuted and prosecuted for various types of theft and malfeasance even though it was a glitch in the Fujitsu software that caused whatever appeared to have been thefts or irregularities in the accounting that was the basis for the government tyrannical terror descending on these people. It also cause at least four (4) suicides.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal

I suspect this also has its roots in the European legal tendency to presume guilt and the accused having to prove their innocence, far more than the system has also been poisoned with in the USA. It’s not perfect and getting worse in the USA, but in the past, it would have been incumbent upon the prosecution to prove you actually stole, not just that the system used indicated irregularities. For example there would have to be evidence of money transfers, exceptional lifestyles, video surveillance of stealing money, or at least witness testimony of some kind validating that money was stolen, etc. If something was stolen, it essentially has to be shown what happened to it, i.e., it was in the possession/control of the accused.

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