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Community Council | Posts: 4,920 | Thanked: 12,867 times | Joined on May 2012 @ Southerrn Finland
#13
What I am advocating here is of course not changing anything that has been done and paid for before; that would be absurd and in many cases illegal of course. If something has been created under such a contract that it is closed, you cannot open it any longer.

What I propose (and as I read the original proposition) is that when public works start the specification process of any large systems that include software components, part of the specification says that the interfaces and components are Open Source and owned by the utility that ordered it, not by the contractor who implemented it.

In essence this means that the Public Utility only purchases work from the contractors, it does not purchase software.

This could apply to systems like these, but not limited to only;
  • medical databases and front-end applications for doctors, nurses and social workers
  • tax recording and calculation systems
  • databases, frontends and control software for bus/train/transport lines
  • systems for student exams, grading and other education related tasks
  • internal communication and direction software used in public offices
  • systems used by citizens to interact with officials
  • maps and location data software
  • databases and billing systems for water, electricity, waste management and recycling
  • and so on... the list is endless...
 

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