About SOS Our goal is to to document and hopefully leverage activist experience in support of free software and open source issues around the world and especially ...

Open Source Afghanistan #AfghanistanUNDP Linux reaches Afghanistan BBC News, July 15, 2003. Short report on efforts by UNDP to train civil servants in Afghanistan ...

Open Source Africa Free and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) Impressive new effort to organize a pan African organization promoting free and open ...

Open Source in African Schools We are looking for successful applications of open source and free software in African schools. We have information in other parts of ...

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution (ADTI) White Paper ADTI is a US based politically conservative research organization who have published a white paper against open ...

Open Source Animation Scooby Doo gets Linux power IT Director.com., June 19, 2002. Slightly misleading title covering primarily recent developments offering open ...

Anti War Page War is peripheral to what SOS and PubSoft is about but the recent developments in Iraq is an opportunity for some of us to declare our opposition to ...

Open Source Argentina Proprietary Software and Less Developed Countries The Argentine Case By Federico Heinz and Oscar E. Heinz. Fundaci n V a Libre (Free Way ...

Arun Mehta Software developer and activist on telecommunications issues and access to the Internet. Arun is involved in a number of projects including: Net Radiophony ...

Open Source Asia Asian Open Source Centre: Promoting open source and free software in Asia "AsiaOSC is currently fully funded by MIMOS Berhad. MIMOS Berhad is a technology ...

Australia Open Source Need to confirm with an official site that: "Education Department of Australia's Northern Territory will install 200 IBM servers and 4,000 IBM ...

Bernard Lang French free software activist. Bernard is associated with INRIA and very involved with the Association Francophone des Utilisateurs de Linux et des Logiciels ...

Open Source Brazil Alfredo Kengi Kojima The main developer of the Window Maker project. Projeto Software Livre RS There is no information in English but it appears ...

Bulgaria Open Source A number of sites about Linux but unfortunately not in English: Linux Users Group Bulgaria Linux za bulgari Bulgarian GNU/Linux ...

User Bulletin Board We welcome suggestions or discussion for new topics or information on the areas we cover. Please feel free to post below. Comments

Business Applications Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp.: A Linux Installation Of Enterprise Proportions By Todd R. Weiss, LinuxWorld.com, March 11, 2002. Reports ...

Open Source Cambodia KhmerOS Khmer Software Initiative "The KhmerOS project was born from our dream for the state of computer technology in Cambodia in three years ...

Canadian Open Source: CanOpenER: Canadian Open Source Education and Research "It is CanOpenER's intent to become a National advocacy group to educate Canadians about ...

Free Chinese Fonts The following is an excerpt from the MNM Project (MNM's Not Millions) home page written by Hong Feng: "The original motivation of MNM Project came ...

Open Source China China Attempts to Block Foreign Software in Government By Andrea Di Maio, Kristian Steenstrup, and Dion Wiggins, August 20, 2003. Short Gartner ...

Community Technology Community Enabler "Powerful, feature rich online Content Management and Collaboration Framework developed using the Zope application server and ...

Conferences / Meetings / Seminars Open Source: A Case for e Government Washington, DC Oct. 16 18, 2002 III Global Congress on Community Networking ...

SOS Contributors The information comes primarily from discussions on the Public Software Mailing List. In particular I would like to thank the following people: ...

Copyright Notice All material subject to the GNU Free Documentation License. Copyright 2001 2003 The MetaCommunity Project unless: added by registered contributors ...

Costa Rica Grupo de Usuarios de Linux de Costa Rica SamKritikos 11 Apr 2002 Comments

Design for Disability Blind Linux BLINUX "The purpose of BLINUX project is to improve usability of the LINUX operating system for the user who is blind" The Hawking ...

Disclaimer This project started as an idea within the mailing list of the ISTF Public Software Work Group then part of the Internet Society (ISOC). In addition the ...

Open Source Education Schoolforge "Schoolforge's mission is to unify independent organizations that advocate, use, and develop open resources for primary and secondary ...

Open Source El Salvador Grupo de Usuarios Linux en El Salvador (SVLinux) SamKritikos 11 Apr 2002 Comments

Open Source European Union EUROLINUX Alliance "The EuroLinux Alliance for a Free Information Infrastructure is an open coalition of commercial companies and non profit ...

European Union and Software Patents Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure in the UK Alerts on the EU legislation changes. UK Resource on Software Patents ...

Finnish City Plans switch to Linux Turku plans to switch to Linux By John Lettice Posted: 05/10/2001 at 13:23 GMT. Finnish local government is leaning away from ...

Stories and sites to follow up ... Positive Intellectual Rights and Information Exchanges by (our very own) Philippe Aigrain. Cost savings of open source ...

Logiciel Libre in France (Open Source France) AFUL "L'AFUL est une association d'utilisateurs et de professionnels du logiciel libre. Elle comprend des membres ...

Fred Noronha Prolific journalist on issues of technology and development in South Asia and beyond, covering open source issues quite often. One way to descrine Fred ...

Free Software Magazine (FSM) Vol. 1, Issue No. 1, Jan 2002 Wide selection of articles and very polemic on supporting free software over open source. The irony ...

GNU General Public License (GPL) Community commentary: The case for 'lagom' copyright By Mikael Pawlo, January 12, 2002. Mikael Pawlo is a Swedish lawyer and cofounder ...

Open Source Gender From their FAQ, LinuxChix was started "as an attempt to create a more hospitable community in which people can discuss Linux, a community that ...

Open Source German Public Administration Bundesakademie für öffentliche Verwaltung (BAkoeV) (Federal Academy for Public Administration?) They seem to be involved in ...

Open Source Germany LinuxTag Annual meeting in Germany about free software with the emphasis GNU/Linux. Started in 1996 with 70 participants, and has grown to 19,500 ...

Open Source Ghana LUG Ghana "This is the central Linux information distribution point in Ghana, we have benefited so much from Linux and we wish to bring the Linux ...

Open Source Goa Margao GNU/Linux User Group (MGLUG) Goan Computers for Schools Project "The Goa Computers for Schools Project is a community based project which is ...

Government Security Program (GSP) Governments to see Windows codeBy Stephen Shankland CNET News.com January 15, 2003 "Microsoft will share the source code underlying ...

Greece Open Source Free Software for Greek Schools The following is an excerpt from Linux in education report #53 published by the folks at Simple End User Linux ...

Open Source Guatemala Guatemala Linux User Group (GLUG) SamKritikos 11 Apr 2002 Comments

Guido Sohne Ghana based software developer and open source and free software activist. He has written a number of pieces including: So you want to be a Web African ...

Open Source Guyana Follow up: CARICOM SECRETARIAT/COMMONWEALTH SECRETARIAT SPONSORED STUDY ON THE E READINESS OF CARICOM MEMBER STATES Study conducted by Consultant ...

Hardware There are a number of issues that connect open source and hardware including licensing for digital design and architecture. In addition our concerns has ...

Hardware Recycling Parents, Educators Publishers National Directory of Computer Recycling Programs "A State, National and International Directory of agencies that ...

The Hawking Communicator Project "We are piloting a project to make a new speech synthesizer for people challenged by the current computer interfaces, and who are ...

Open Source Health The Open Source Health Care Alliance: "OSHCA is a community of people in the health care and informatics industries that promotes the open ...

SOS Help Wanted Help in developing this project would be appreciated in the following areas: Topical Information Links and longer pieces related to general open ...

Hong Feng Activist, software developer, author and businessman, who co founded FSF CHINA and RON's Datacom Co., Ltd. SamKritikos 18 Feb 2002 Comments

ISTF Public Software Working Group (PubSoft) From early 1999 until late in 2001 the Internet Societal Task Force was a project examining societal issues within the ...

India Hardware Recycling Digital Equalizer Initiative "The Digital Equalizer Project is a project to bring together US and Indian organizations working to promote ...

Open Source India DeepRoot Linux A software development, support and consulting company based in Bangalore. Linux India "A non profit organization dedicated to promoting ...

India Software Localization The Penguin's Mantra: Efforts are on to find Indian language solutions to GNU/Linux in the subcontinent that matters By Fred Noronha, ...

The Indian Linux Project "The goal of this project is to create a Linux distribution that supports Indian Languages from a GUI/Application level as well as Kernel ...

Open Source Indonesia WinBi Software RI "WinBi Linux, a Linux distribution funded by Indonesian government, to provide a cheap, reliable, and legal solution for ...

Institute for Development Policy and Management "IDPM is a multi disciplinary unit within the University of Manchester specialising in management and development in ...

Internet Connectivity Cost Although our emphasis is on open source and free software, there are a number of other issues that are crucial if computers are to be used ...

ISOC Bulgaria ISOC Bulgaria has developed contacts with the political forces in the country in support of policies for elimination of the Digital Divide in the country ...

Open Source Jamaica Health LINUX O/S in Jamaican Hospitals for PAS, March 17, 2000. This is a press release by Heron Technology announcing the installation of a Linux ...

Open Source Jamaica Watching the world get Linux, by Evan Leibovitch, ZDNet News, November 8, 2000. The article was written after a visit to Jamaica and a series ...

James Clark Legendary figure in the open source world with significant contributions of SGML/XML software. Oxford graduate, English expat currently living in Thailand ...

Open Source Japan Proposed collaboration between Japan, South Korea and China The project, proposed by Japan's Trade Minister Takeo Hiranuma at a conference in Phnom ...

Open Source Jordan Information Technology Association of Jordan (int@j) whose mission is "to effectively represent, promote, and advance the Jordanian software and ...

Ken Young Australian community activist and networker with extensive involvement in various social issues. Alive and well and kicking those distros down under ... ...

Kenya Open Source Need information for the following: Linux at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology labs Githogori wa Nyangara Murage ...

Open Source Korea HANCOM and Korean government stepped into Linux desktop mainstream Press release by HancomLinux, a Korea based Linux company, on January 9, 2002 ...

Linux Clause Thanks to Norbert Klein for providing the following information: "Very often startup musicians could get their music/songs only onto CDs of established ...

... Main. 30 Sep 2002 Malaysia’s Open Source push (by CHARLES F. MOREIRA) Comments

Mexico Internet Access e Mexico This is a large public works program initiated by the Fox government to advance Internet connectivity in Mexico. The URL for the official ...

Open Source Mexico Miguel de Icaza Home Page Mexico Has Resources for High Tech Success: An open letter to Mexican President elect Vicente Fox By Gary Chapman ...

Open Source in Mexican Schools #RedEscolar The RedEscolar Linux Project Edu Ideas (in Spanish) This used to be the site of a formerly very impressive government ...

Microsoft Against Open Source We plan to collect here information on methods used by Microsoft to stop the spread of open source and free software. Lower pricing ...

Microsoft In India Shiksha Microsoft e learning inititive "In order to accelerate computer literacy at the school level, Microsoft would initiate project Shiksha ...

Open Source Middle East The Penguin catches on in the Middle East: Factors that favor Linux The Star (Jordan), July 18 24, 2002. Short article on localization efforts ...

Open Source Military Software Open Source Fight Flares At Pentagon: Microsoft Lobbies Hard Against Free Software By Jonathan Krim, Washington Post, May 23, 2002. Reviews ...

Munich City Contract On 28 May 2003, the city of Munich, Germany, voted 50 to 30 to migrate its Windows desktops to Linux. According to a report conservative Christian ...

National Advisory Council on Innovation (NACI) NACI was created in 1997 to advise the South African government on "the role and contribution of science, mathematics ...

Open Source Nicaragua Grupo Linux de Nicaragua (Nicalug) SamKritikos 11 Apr 2002 Comments

Open Source Non Profit Organizations openchallenge nonprofits program "Openchallenge is interested in channeling Open Source development potential in order to help ...

Activism hacktivismo.com: social justice/technology/cDc "Hacktivismo is an international group of hackers, human rights workers, lawyers and artists that evolved ...

Open Source Pakistan Support for Linux by the Government of Pakistan Daily Times, June 9, 2003. Short account of new budget including allocation of Rs 150 million ...

Open Source Peru We have a separate page on the Peruvian Bill Number 1609 by Congressman Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Núñez. LACFREE 2003 Latin American and the Caribbean ...

Peruvian Bill Number 1609 Microsoft's Big Stick in Peru by Agustin d'Empaire, Wired News, July 27, 2002. Reports on efforts by the US Ambassador John Hamilton in ...

Poland Open Source Free software taxation In November of 2000 we found through a post on the Debian list about the attempt to tax free software in Poland. We tried ...

Programmers Without Frontiers (PWF) This was a United Nations proposal during the Summer 2003 preparatory meetings for the World Summit on the Information Society ...

The Public Software Project (PubSoft) We are an informal group of people, mainly Internet Society members, interested in promoting Internet access and the use of ...

Open Source Public Administration Government Procurement of Software Rich collection of resources on the Consumer Project on Technology site. OpenSector.org Great ...

Public Goods Public Goods is a very important economic concept. We are very pleased to have here a contribution written by Raul Zambrano, UNDP, in early 2001 on what ...

Public Software Mailing List (PubSoft) Discussions on software as a public good. Free software and open source software applications on third world development and ...

Open Source Radio "Welcome to PUBLICVOICE.fm, a self operated streaming network running only free software that lets you start your own radio in a few steps, using ...

FSF CHINA Activity Report Summary This is the summary of a report outlining the future plans of FSF China written by Hong Feng and dated June 22, 2001. It is an impressive ...

Research on Open Source Open Source Software Research and Development This is apparently an informal team in the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie ...

SCO Against Linux SCO: Without Fear and Without Research By Eben Moglen, Monday 24 November 2003. Also FSF's Position regarding SCO's attacks on Free Software. Analysis ...

Open Source Science Tree of Life Web Project "A collaborative Internet project containing information about phylogeny and biodiversity. The Tree of Life is a collaborative ...

Security Enhanced Linux Linux makes a run for government By Robert Lemos, CNET News.com, August 16, 2002 Report on efforts by the Cyberspace Policy Institute at ...

Open Source Security We have a separate page for Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) Linux Security Modules "The Linux Security Modules (LSM) project provides a lightweight ...

Software Localization Arabeyes Project "Arabeyes is a Meta project that is aimed at fully supporting the Arabic language in the Unix/Linux environment. It is designed ...

Open Source South Africa South African Govt Advisory Punts Open Source Software By Alastair Otter, Feb. 4, 2002, ITWeb. Reports on a recent position paper in support ...

Open Source Spain GNU España "Bienvenido al site web de GNU España, la filial oficial del Proyecto GNU en España." We have a separate page for: Open Source ...

Open Source for Spanish Schools Linex. El Sistema Operativo Libre de Extremadura Official government site in Extremadura. Extremadura Measures: Linux By Julia Scheeres ...

Open Source Sweden Gnuheter "Fria nyheter om fri programvara" SamKritikos 02 May 2002 Comments

Open Source Taiwan Taiwan opens arms to open source By Tiffany Kary, CNET news.com, June 4, 2002. Short report on a recent initiative by the Taiwanese government ...

Open Source Tanzania Tanzania E secretariat "We are a group of Tanzanians from various walks of life who have been concerned for some time at the lack of coordination ...

Open Source Telecommunications Freeside is an open source billing and account administration package for Internet Service Providers. "Bayonne, the telecommunications ...

Open Source Thailand Thai Tales: Taking Computers to Schools Posted by Frederick Noronha on a number of sites Thursday, April 25, 2002 software.thai.net "... created ...

Open Source Third World Development United Nations University / International Institute for Software Technology (UNU/IIST) "UNU/IIST's mission is to help developing ...

Open Source United Kingdom Open Source Software use in UK government Official announcement of recent policy changes regarding open source by the UK Governemt Office ...

Open Source United Nations GNU/Development, International Organizations Take a Close Look at Linux By Fred Noronha, October 25, 2002. Interesting review on efforts ...

Open Source USA Linux users march on city hall By Lisa M. Bowman, ZDNet News, August 15, 2002 "A small but enthusiastic crowd of Linux lovers hits the streets of ...

Open Source Venezuela Venezuela’s Public Administration to Use Open Source Software By Gregory Wilpert Venezuelanalysis.com, Thursday, December 30, 2004 "President ...

Veni Markovski reports on ISOC Bulgaria initiatives: We are very pleased to include here a contribution by Veni Markovski, from May 5, 2001, on an initiative by ISOC ...

Venkatesh (Venky) Hariharan Activist, writer, software developer. India Turns to Community Computing Technology Review, August 13, 2003. Venkatesh Hariharan interviews ...

Open Source Video Games #ButterflyNet Butterfly.net Commercial grid network for online distributed video games. It uses "rack mounted Linux based IBM eServer xSeries ...

Open Source Vietnam Vietnam embracing open source products by Ben Stocking, October 30, 2003, Mercury News. Presentation of Jordi Carrasco Muñoz The text presents ...

WIPO Meeting Affair On July 7, 2003 a group of well known scientists and technologists organized by James Love of the Consumer Project on Technology sent a letter ...

The State of Open Source (SOS) Our goal is to make a knowledge base for open source and free software issues so activists can learn and leverage experience around ...

See also the faster WebTopicList

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SOS Web Preferences The following settings are web preferences of the SOS web. These preferences overwrite the site level preferences in ., and can be overwritten ...

Web Site Suggestions In September 2003 there was discussion on the Public Software Mailing List (PubSoft) on free and open source software for the management of large ...

Statistics for SOS Web Month: Topic views: Topic saves: File uploads: Most popular topic views: Top contributors for topic save and uploads ...

... Main. 07 Mar 2002 Comments

See also the verbose WebIndex.

Why Public Software? Quite often we are asked why we use the term "Public Software", since most people use "Free Software" and/or "Open Source" why introducing yet ...