Open Source Finds a Friend in Big Government

The evolution of open source adoption at the federal level should be a plus for commercial providers. "We see this progress as an endorsement of our development model that is suited to these applications," said Red Hat Chief Technology Strategist Gunnar Hellekson. However, he also expressed disappointment that many agencies haven't generated the legal guidance necessary for their procurement departments to go after open source options.

Major federal agencies in the U.S. are gradually getting the hang of dealing with open source technology -- a situation that bodes well for commercial open source providers.

In a recently released "report card," Open Source for America (OSFA) says that a handful of top level cabinet departments have achieved a high level of success in adopting the technology, and that other departments have at least committed themselves to pursuing appropriate open source options.