Freedom and Unity in the Green Mountain State

Returning to the government and opens source software theme, yesterday’s article by  Matt Williams in Government Technology reported on Vermont’s adoption of an Open Source Software Policy.  According to Williams, “the policy says the Vermont Department of Information and Innovation and other departments should look at open source solutions as part of the procurement process, and are directed to calculate the total cost of ownership for an open source system, including “fixed costs (direct purchases and licensing) and operational costs for support, testing, upgrades, maintenance and training,” as part of the procurement process.”

Vermont, which follows the lead of California and San Francisco in this area, has adopted a balanced approach to the consideration of open source software options as part of its procurement process.  While time will tell whether its OSS policy and procurement guidelines will achieve the aspirations of Freedom and Unity in the state motto, I applaud the Green Mountain State for an important step in the right direction.