[Am-info] Re: Microsoft muscle and children's education

[T. Guilbert]

In a message dated 2003 May 02 (Friday), timestamp 10:38 AM, 
   on the topic Re: [Am-info] Microsoft muscle and children's
education,
   Mitch Stone <mitch@accidentalexpert.com> wrote:

"|Innocent question here: Why do the Oregon school districts require  
"|legislative permission to use open source software, or any type of  
"|software, for that matter? Or do they? 

Simple answer::  I misstated the bill (not intentionally).  The bill
_requires_ the state government to _consider_ using open-source
software.  My recollection misplaced the areas of coerciveness and
freedom. 

Here is the text of the bill, from
><http://www.leg.state.or.us/03reg/measures/hb2800.dir/hb2892.intro.html>


                         House Bill 2892
 
Sponsored by Representative BARNHART (at the request of Ken
  Barber)
 
 
                             SUMMARY
 
The following summary is not prepared by the sponsors of the measure
and is not a part of the body thereof subject to consideration by the
Legislative Assembly. It is an editor's brief statement of the
essential features of the measure as introduced.
 
  Requires state government to consider using open source software
when acquiring new software. Sets other requirements for acquiring
software.
 
                        A BILL FOR AN ACT
Relating to software acquisitions by state government.
  (1) The Legislative Assembly finds that:
  (a) The cost of obtaining software for the state's computer systems
has become a significant expense to the state;
  (b) The personnel costs of maintaining the software on the state's
computers has also become a significant expense to the state;
  (c) It is necessary to the functioning of the state that computer
data owned by the state be permanently available to the state
throughout its useful life;
  (d) To guarantee the succession and permanence of public data, it is
necessary that the state's accessibility to that data be independent
of the goodwill of the state's computer system suppliers and the
monopoly conditions imposed by these suppliers;
  (e) It is in the public interest to ensure interoperability of
computer systems through the use of software and products that promote
open, platform-neutral standards;
  (f) It is also in the public interest that the state be free, to the
greatest extent possible, of restrictions imposed by parties outside
the state's control on how, and for how long, the state may use the
software it has acquired; and
  (g) It is not in the public interest and it is a violation of the
fundamental right to privacy for the state to use software that, in
addition to its stated function, also transmits data to, or allows
control and modification of its systems by, parties outside of the
state's control.
  (2) The Legislative Assembly further finds that:
  (a) The acquisition and widespread deployment of open source
software can significantly reduce the state's costs of obtaining and
maintaining software;
  (b) Open source software guarantees that its encoding of data is not
tied to a single provider;
  (c) Open source software ensures interoperability through adherence
to open, platform-neutral standards;
 
  (d) Open source software contains no restrictions on how, or for how
long, it may be used; and
  (e) Since open source software fully discloses its internal
operations, it can be audited, at any time and by anyone of the
state's choosing, for internal functions that are contrary to the
public's interests and rights.
  (3) Therefore, it is in the public interest that the State of Oregon
consider using open source software in its public
computing functions.
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:
  SECTION 1.  { + (1) As used in this section:
  (a) 'Open source software' means software that guarantees the user,
without further cost:
  (A) Unrestricted use of the software for any purpose;
  (B) Unrestricted access to the respective source code;
  (C) Exhaustive inspection of the working mechanisms of the software;
  (D) Use of the internal mechanisms and arbitrary portions of the
software, to adapt them to the needs of the user;
  (E) Freedom to make and distribute copies of the software; and
  (F) Modification of the software and freedom to distribute
modifications of the new resulting software, under the same license as
the original software.
  (b) 'Open standards' means specifications for the encoding and
transfer of computer data that:
  (A) Are available for all to read and implement;
  (B) Do not lock the user into a particular vendor or group;
  (C) Are free for all to implement with no royalty or fee except for
a fee or fees required by the standards organization for certification
of compliance;
  (D) Do not favor one implementer over another for any reason other
than the technical standards compliance of an
implementation; and
  (E) Do not prohibit the implementation of extensions, but may employ
license terms that prevent subversion of the standard through
predatory practices.
  (c) 'Proprietary software' means software that does not fulfill all
of the guarantees provided by open source software.
  (d) 'State government' has the meaning given that term in ORS
174.111.
  (2) For all new software acquisitions, the person or governing body
charged with administering each administrative division of state
government, including every department, division, agency, board or
commission, without regard to the designation given the entity, shall:
  (a) Consider acquiring open source software products in addition to
proprietary software products;
  (b) Except as provided in paragraphs (d) and (e) of this subsection,
acquire software products primarily on a
value-for-money basis;
  (c) Provide justification whenever a proprietary software product is
acquired rather than open source software;
  (d) Avoid the acquisition of products that do not comply with open
standards for interoperability or data storage; and
  (e) Avoid the acquisition of products that are known to make
unauthorized transfers of information to, or permit unauthorized
control of or modification to state government's computer systems by,
parties outside the control of state government. + }


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