[Osia-members] Interesting read about FOSS in USA

[aimee at aimeemaree.com]

Being an Aussie who has travelled Europe and America and is now living in America and working at Mozilla I would say my experience suggests that it is America that has little to no uhnderstanding of Open Source in the general public apart from Free Software, a lot of kids I work with in Australia and Europe know about Linux some use it code on it. But yeah even though America is the home of RMS 😉 it is also the home of corporatized Computing and its main exports are Hollywood and IT aka IP…. hence TPP

 

Also Lawyers who understand GPL or any FLOSS license are few and far between in any and every country…








From: Ryan Cross
Sent: ‎Friday‎, ‎25‎ ‎April‎ ‎2014 ‎5‎:‎01‎ ‎PM
To: Daniel Jitnah
Cc: osia-members at osia.com.au





I think there is a difference between developers or other people more heavily involved with tech and tech decisions compared to end users & general staff considering desktops operating systems and desktop software. I don’t think that the statement is invalid here, it is just not as strong. 




(Being American and living/working in AU the last 10 year) My anecdotal evidence would suggest that young people here have rarely heard of Linux and generally think of any open source software projects they use as simply “free software” or “internet software”, rarely some even think of it as “cracked/pirated software”. However, most people more familiar with tech and especially developers, are much more familiar with OSS than their more mature counterparts. There is definitely still a strong culture of skepticism or fear within corporations about using OSS, though they often are using it without knowing. Usage of OSS in the web is particularly prevalent and generally goes unnoticed by most people. 




I also see startups/entrepreneurs more interested and willing to use OSS software in their business - mostly from a cost perspective, but not always. I think the relative strength of Australia’s startup ecosystem compared to the US’s also mirrors some of the different levels of OSS adoption. 




Anecdotally, once you actually convince management to use OSS often it is the legal side of corporations that are the biggest blockers of OSS, generally from 2 areas: 

1) corporations don’t have any way of legally engaging with a non-incorporated OSS project - it just seems like it is a near impossible option conceptually for them. If they can’t buy it and sign a contract (often I think for liability placement), then they don’t know what to do. 

2) For contractors who want to deliver OSS-based solutions, there is a similar confusion or refusal to consider that they might not “own” the software being delivered. 

So far, I have only met 1 lawyer in Australia that doesn’t give you a blank stare when talk about the GPL or have a non-standard IP clause in your contract. 




Looking forward to any campaigns that help encourage more OSS usage though!





​Thanks​





Ryan Cross
ryan at crossfunctional.net

http://crossfunctional.net

O: (02) 800 800 99









On 25 April 2014 14:11, Daniel Jitnah <djitnah at greenwareit.com.au> wrote:

Link to an interesting article, specially the section relating to
acquisition of FOSS from a US Gov perspective.

http://opensource.com/government/14/4/interview-david-wheeler

Any comment about the discussion to "commercial software" in the above,
in relation to Australian law?

One comment in that article and also mentioned somewhere else recently
is the one relating to increased FOSS penetration:

"... One reason for the trend is that younger people in IT are used to
using OSS, so as they enter the workforce they come understanding OSS
instead of being ignorant or resistant"

Anecdotally this would appear *not* to be the case in Australia.

1. Surveys by both LA and Linux Users of Victoria suggest that Linux and
OSS users are actually older users 40+.  Among Linux and OSS users,
younger <25 yrs number very low. (2% from respondent from LUV survey in
2011 - 160 respondents)
2. Visibility of OSS in Tertiary and Secondary education sector here has
been and is still very low.

The comment that younger people "... come into the workforce
understanding OSS ..." does not seem to be valid here.

Note that OSIA will likely be announcing a project to address this
situation soon.


Regards,
Daniel.
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