[ossig] Bill requires open source use in Phillipines govt

[Uwe Dippel]

Ditesh Kumar wrote:

> A draft furnished to Standard Today showed that the bill allows the use
> of proprietary software in government only when [...] a proprietary system is
> already widely in use. 

Thanks, Ditesh, for brighten up my day with a wide grin on this 
hangar-door-sized invitation for an exception.

> The bill also prohibits any government agency from procuring technology
> goods and services that are locked in to or dependent on a single
> vendor. 

... except that a proprietary system is already widely in use, that is.

> Casiño’s bill tasks the Commission on Higher Education, the National
> Computing Center and the Department of Science and Technology to promote
> free and open source software in the academic community by providing
> libraries, organizing competitions, and encouraging research in the
> field. 

Nice words here.

> No college or university will be allowed to offer certification programs
> in proprietary software or solutions, if it does not also offer as part
> of its curriculum a similar certification program for free and open
> source software. 

soft as cotton pads.

> Significantly, the bill provides legal recognition of free and open
> source licenses, a sticking point in some public biddings. 
> 
> ‘‘There have been cases when government agencies make it difficult for a
> bidder to propose an open source software-based solution because of the
> inability to transfer licenses,’’ said William Emmanuel Yu of the
> Department of Information Systems and Computer Science at the Ateneo de
> Manila University. ‘‘This is because these licenses are not commercial
> and thus nontransferable. At least, with this bill, FOSS licensed
> software can be included in bids without this form of discrimination.’’ 
> 
> The Casiño bill would also amend Republic Act 8293 or the Intellectual
> Property Code of the Philippines to prohibit the patenting on free and
> open source software. 

The last two sound good and remarkable; after all.

> ‘‘Schools should be able to teach whatever they see fit to teach,’’ he
> said. ‘‘I don’t think the government should start intervening in this
> respect.’’ 

I know first hand, what schools consider fit to teach, alas.


Thanks anyway; I wished we had the same determination in Malaysia at 
least with respect to IP law and the recognition of FOSS licensing and 
government tendering.

Uwe