http://www.linux.com/news/enterprise/case-studies/12784-government-users-start-looking-under-linux-hood“One of the challenges from a government perspective is that when we
go out for an RFP (Request for Proposal), it’s the current
[commercial] vendors who answer the RFP,” she said. “You don’t have
open source groups seeking RFPs. We just don’t see open source
responses.” - CIO, City of Minneapolis
"Often, local government IT leaders “believe that they do not have the
staff to do these kinds of things with open source,” he said, due to
fears of losing control of their systems and data. “I think there are
some legitimate things raised, having to do with control” and using
open source. One major concern for many government IT officials is
that they may not want to contribute their software customizations
back to the open source projects due to worries about security and
their concerns for public information, Shark said."
Shark in the above paragraph is clued-out: you only have to contribute
your contributions if 1) it is a GPL-like license and 2) you are
distributing outside your organization. As most municipalities are not
in the software business, taking open source and altering it for
internal reasons and NOT re-distributing is fine. GPL3 specifically
deals with distribution (now calling 'conveying'). Moving code around
inside an organization (which is the 'party') is not 'conveying. From
the GPL FAQ (
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InternalDistribution):>Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or company “distribution”?
>
> No, in that case the organization is just making the copies for itself. As a consequence, a company or other
> organization can develop a modified version and install that version through its own facilities, without giving
> the staff permission to release that modified version to outsiders.
>
> However, when the organization transfers copies to other organizations or individuals,
> that is distribution. In particular, providing copies to contractors for use off-site is distribution.
>
-glen
http://zzzoot.blogspot.com/--
-
Locked
