Correcting misinformation about the Government Open Code Collaborative

[Zak Greant]

Greetings All,

Some of you may know that several US states and local governments are
collaborating on a governmental open code repository and collaboration
project called the Government Open Code Collaborative. The repository
will be used for both Free/Libre and Open Source Software and non-FLOSS
Software, however there is a strong emphasis on FLOSS.

While information on the project was presented at the recent Open Source
in Government Conference, there has not yet been a formal publicity
event. However, an article has been published in InfoWeek
(http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml? 
articleID=18401044)
subsequent to the conference.

One of the quotes in the article is very clearly wrong.  The quote is:

   "A government agency using the repository must sign a contract that
   lets it license any open-source or proprietary software it finds in
   the repository, while prohibiting that software from being used to
   make a profit."

The contract signed by Members does not have these restrictions (as they
are clearly against the FSF Free Software definition, the OSI Open  
Source
definition and other related community guidelines and definitions.)

In fact, the members in the GOCC project only have to assert, via a
contract, that they have the right to publish software contributed to
the repository under the license that they choose to contribute it under
or that is already attached to that software.

If you encounter misinformation on this topic, feel free to correct the
source or pass them on to me.

If you have any further questions, please contact Jim Willis, the
director of Director of eGovernment and Information Technology for
Rhode Island (cc'd in this message).

Cheers!
--zak

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