We recently published the Public Sector Remix review of other government's open source policy. One of the government's we looked at was Malaysia. You can follow that country's open source progress on the "Accelerated Adoption for Malaysian Public Sector Open Source Software (OSS) Program" website.

"When open alternatives are available, no citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to use a particular company’s technology to access government information. No citizen or company should be forced or encouraged to choose a closed technology over an open one, through a government having made that choice first." — Neelie Kroes, European Union Competition Commissioner

Computerword New Zealand are running a review of the situation now that software will be excluded in the Patent Bill. The article describes the use of software patents by New Zealand companies, how the exclusion will eliminate risk for these companies, and how software companies will still rely on copyright to protect their intellectual property.

Recently the State Services Commission released a Request for Proposal that specified that the solution should be open source. As a result there was some concern expressed. The NZOSS believes this approach will encourage a level playing field when it comes to offering software development and implementation services by ensuring that many companies will be available to offer software development and implementation services, rather than being locked into a single vendor.

The State Services Commission have released a Request for Proposal that specifies that the solution they are looking for will be an Open Source solution. As a consequence the SSC received various questions from vendors concerned they were being excluded. Statements in RFP's often specify specific products, usually because of business reasons such as leverage of existing software assets. The SSC has not replied to those questions on it's web site.

Jack Yan has approached the NZOSS asking if we can put our collective heads together and come up with the a FOSS friendly strategy for Wellington. Jack is one of the candidates running in this year's Wellington Mayoral elections (see http://jackyanformayor.org/).

According to the London Evening Standard Apple is considering making an offer to buy ARM. ARM are the makers of ARM low power CPU's that are used in many of todays smart phones. If successful the implications for other phone manufacturers would be severe. Phones that use Open Source Android would then be at a disadvantage in being able to source processors.

21st April 2010
For Immediate Release

The New Zealand Open Source Society has written to the Minister of Commerce, Hon. Simon Power, to congratulate the National led Government on the stance it has taken with regards to the issue of software patents. The NZOSS has long held the view that software patents are damaging to our industry as a whole, stifling innovation and creating unnecessary and unpredictable risk to this who chose to develop software. Whilst patents do have a chilling impact on the freedoms that free software developers seek to perpetuate through software licensing, the issue is one that impacts the entire industry regardless of preferred licensing models.

The New Zealand Labour party explains its stance on the exclusion of software from patenting. It's about encouraging innovation:

20 April 2010
Media Statement

Software exclusion will encourage Kiwi innovators

The exclusion of computer software from a Patents Bill before Parliament is a step towards helping New Zealand become more innovative Labour MPs Lianne Dalziel and Clare Curran said today.

Countries involved in ACTA negotiations have unanimously decided to release the text of ACTA for public scrutiny. This news comes after over eight thousand people signed a petition in support of the Wellington Declaration, a document developed at PublicACTA, a public conference to discuss the implications of ACTA held in Wellington last week. [Update]: ACTA Text now attached to this article.