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Using Free, Open-Source in Local Governments: Streamlined Internal Computing for Better Performance and Record Keeping

An ICMA Report Michael A. Repas About ICMA For more information, please contact: ICMA advances professional local government worldwide. Michael A. Repas Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by Knowledge Network Associate developing and advancing professional management of local [email protected] government. ICMA, the International City/County Manage- ment Association, provides member support; publications, Thomas Stefaniak data, and information; peer and results-oriented assistance; Knowledge Network Director and training and professional development to more than (202) 962-3542 9,000 city, town, and county experts and other individu- [email protected] als and organizations throughout the world. The manage- © 2010 by the International City/County Manage- ment decisions made by ICMA’s members affect 185 million ment Association. All rights reserved, including rights of individuals living in thousands of communities, from small reproduction and use in any form or by any means, includ- villages and towns to large metropolitan areas. ing the making of copies by any photographic process, or by ICMA any electrical or mechanical device, printed, written, or oral 777 North Capitol Street, NE or recording for sound or visual reproduction, or for use in Suite 500 any knowledge or retrieval system or device, unless permis- Washington, DC 20002–4201 sion in writing is obtained from the copyright proprietor. 202–289-ICMA (4262) icma.org Using Free, Open-Source Software in Local Governments: Streamlined Internal Computing for Better Performance and Record Keeping

Nobody seems to have stood up in a meeting and said Introduction “You know, there’s lots of very good con- This report was composed for employees of local tent management systems (CMS) out there—there’s governments, with the intention of showcasing how one called WordPress, which is free and eminently customizable.” This is peculiar, as WordPress was and why some local governments in the United States available (and as solid as any CMS) in 2005 [the time have switched some or all internal software policies to of the problems], runs on MySQL and PHP …and rely on free and/or open-source software. There have there are lots of ­ around with MySQL and been a few pioneers in the application of these types PHP skills.2 of software among local governments, but the industry has moved much further in that direction over the past Those initial examples aside, it is first necessary few years. As a result, it is likely that local govern- to give a definition of what open-source software ments are not achieving optimal performance with refers to, as different local governments use different the software they currently have and could start using approaches to their technology standards. One of the free, open-source software solutions instead, saving most prevalent definitions of open source used by the money while getting the job done more quickly and industry is found on the website of the Open Source efficiently. This is not merely a tool for local govern- Initiative. It explains that the that makes ments; as a recent study reports, the highest levels of the program run must be freely available for enthusi- U.S. government are also making use of these tools. asts to improve as they like.

Historically, Open Source technologies had been dis- The program must include source code, and must allow couraged within the Department of Defense…. [Cur- distribution in source code as well as compiled form. rently,] Open Source is used extensively in security Where some form of a product is not distributed with applications, and uses Open Source for the source code, there must be a well-publicized means of exchange of ideas and shedding of costs. Since Open obtaining the source code for no more than a reason- Source had been discouraged within the department, able reproduction cost preferably, downloading via the why then was it being used at all? First, but not always without charge. The source code must be the foremost, is cost. Second, many Open Source solutions preferred form in which a would modify are highly responsive. [Third,] security of the proprie- the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not tary software was often a concern, since only one major allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a software firm—the respective vendor/developer—­ preprocessor or translator are not allowed.3 provided only after-the-fact security patches.1 Including the source code makes the program is With this type of recommendation being imple- free for anyone to use or modify. The beauty of the mented at the highest levels of security in the U.S. system, as its years of existence have demonstrated, federal government, the utility and cost-saving capa- is that it is almost completely decentralized, and yet bilities of free and open-source software at the local the changes that meet with most approval are kept, level begin to become clear. The possibilities presented whereas those that do not work are edited out by by open-source software emanating from a bigger other members in the community. does and better pool of programmers working to improve not have to be open source in terms of licensing, but it are also manifest: In England, Birmingham’s local in many ways is a derivative of the same conditions government’s expensive -based that started the open-source movement. blog crashed when too many citizens used it. As one Given that vital criteria, a simple example will newspaper posed, suffice to illustrate the biggest strength of free and

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 1 ­open-source software. A problem with proprietary, Government entities, primarily state and more specifi- costly software is that the software provider allows cally municipal [and] local government entities, are only its small group of internal employees to make more prone to repurpose old hardware as their budgets changes to the software, meaning that if a group of are not as robust as federal budgets (within limits, of course). One of the greatest strengths of open source users experiences problems, there is no guarantee that software is that it is generally more flexible in that is requesting a change will make it happen. There is also does not require the latest, greatest, newest and most the possibility that the software provider will provide expensive hardware to run effectively. In addition, open the requested features or changes, but as an “upgrade source solutions tend to be developed and deployed or new edition, and thus charge more money for with open standards in mind. This is an important ele- something that should not have been a problem ment in enabling software to be and remain compatible to start. on a variety of hardware(s) and platforms.6 Open-source software, however, can be changed by anyone who is having a problem and knows how By offering case studies and a resource section, this to program, so the chance of the issue being solved report provides a brief rationale and instructions for quickly magnitude is much higher. Free software is getting a local government started with open source. a different entity in this case, but it would not be as successful as it has been if it were not stable and use- Case studies ful. An August 2009 report from Public Sector Forums showed that the top three reasons people say a local government should switch to open-source software are Washington, D.C. lower cost (75 percent of respondents), lack of sup- Population: 600,000 (5.3 million in metropolitan area) plier dependency (47 percent), and better functionality Website: www.dc.gov/index.asp (40 percent).4 In 2008, many changes were being planned for the software model in the Washington, D.C. municipal About this report government. The city’s intranet for its employees— the collection of websites used internally for the This report examines six case studies of local govern- purposes of coordination and increased productiv- ments that have implemented several aspects of free ity—was outdated and essentially nonfunctional, or open-source software: given the problems involved. As such, Chief Technol- • Washington, D.C. ogy Officer Vivek Kundra planned on taking the tech- • Los Angeles, California nology infrastructure in a different direction. He did • San Francisco, California this for two reasons. First, a closed-source solution • Portland, Oregon would have cost D.C. taxpayers about $4 million, • Largo, Florida which Kundra thought to be exorbitant; and second, Kundra believed that open-source technology is the • Northglenn, Colorado. future of enterprise.7 He chose something untested Each of these governments has different software within local governments in the United States: needs, but their shared use of this type of software Google Apps and their functionality to run websites helps demonstrate its value in a variety of circum- for any enterprise’s intranet. stances. This change can be effective, whether a local government changes some or all of its software from A vibrant new approach to city intranet proprietary to open source. As argued in Government Rather than paying $4 million for proprietary soft- Technology, “Federal IT savings could reach $3.7 bil- ware that would eventually become obsolete, Kundra lion from open source. These cost savings can’t be chose to go with the lower licensing fees of Google, ignored, especially when taxpayer dollars are footing coming out to about $475,000 annually for use by the bill.”5 If this is the estimate for the U.S. federal 38,000 municipal employees. This change has been government, local governments could experience simi- very useful: Instead of being vendor-reliant to provide lar or greater savings. Open source offers the opportu- changes to the software’s functionality for intranet nity to reuse supposedly outdated hardware, applications, such as displaying internal job openings, as the president of the Open Source Software Initia- using Google Apps means there is an open platform tive, John Weathersby, says: on which users can easily erect new programs and

2 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS The first edition of Apps for Democracy yielded 47 web, iPhone, and Facebook apps in 30 days—a $2,300,000 value to the city at a cost of $50,000. Our mission …is twofold: to engage the populace of Washington, D.C., to ask for their input into the problems and ideas they have that can be addressed with technology and then build the best community platform for submitting 311 service requests to the city.11

This might seem like an overblown estimate of the value of the products created, but some amaz- ing pieces of free and open-source software were the result, including dcBIKES (mapping software designed to help determine the best places for bike racks and new bicycle lanes) and PARKiTDC (an application that helps determine pricing, crime rates, and construction for those trying to park their vehi- cles). These two applications, along with almost fifty interfaces.8 D.C. has moved to using three products others, are available free of charge. Many of them are from Google: Google Enterprise, which includes per- open source, meaning that any other local govern- sonal websites, e-mail, and the Google Applications ment can hold a similar contest and ask its citizens suite of productivity tools; Google search appliances, to modify the code to work for their municipality. which are used to index and search the city’s intranet; Having these features created for such a low cost has and Google Earth.9 By mixing these technologies, the additional benefits: By making this information easily municipality’s employees are well-prepared to address and freely available, the government gave citizens any situation via their intranet, which substantially who were previously disinclined to work with local reduces the load on the telephone and cellular services government to improve their community an incentive in the area in the event of an emergency. to do so. As an example of how useful this slow migration has been, consider the process of preparing a city Los Angeles, California budget in 2008. Kundra explained, “We did our budget planning with a group of 60 people using Google Population: 4 million (15 million in metropolitan area) Docs.” If they had been using Word, “we Website: www.lacity.org/index.htm would’ve ended up with about 60 documents, and we In August 2009, the city of Los Angeles, California, 10 would’ve had to compile them together.” began to consider the possibility of switching its For any local government, the possibility for the proprietary software applications to a cheaper, more existence of a single proposed budget document/ efficient, and more effective solution. The chief infor- that all employees can edit at the same mation officer (CIO) at the time, Randi Levin, deliv- time sounds like a miracle, but it is just one aspect ered her opinion to the city council: of this new software that has benefited Washington, D.C. The possibilities of simultaneous editing can also The ability to get whatever information the city apply to regular documents and all other aspects of needs, whenever they need it, on whatever device Google Apps—opening a new realm of possibilities they need it on will fundamentally change the way for quick turnaround in group projects that was never the city works and enhance productivity greatly…. In a fiscal crisis it is difficult to find technology solu- before possible. tions that will save money without regarding a sig- 12 Engaging the D.C. citizenry: Apps for Democracy nificant capital outlay to achieve those objectives. Based on the open-source ideals that steered him The biggest fear for the city council was secu- toward Google Apps, Kundra also devised an innova- rity, since much of the software was to be based tive program called Apps for Democracy. The pro- on servers at Google rather than in-house in Los gram was simple in its vision and had a relatively Angeles. Although some of the fears were justified, low price tag. Levin explained that those concerns were mitigated

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 3 A special deal with Google By entering the contract with Google in October 2009, the city of Los Angeles became the second major U.S. city, after Washington, D.C., to adopt the cloud- computing model. Although there are nearly 30,000 employees of the Los Angeles municipal govern- ment, only 17,000 completely switched to Google Apps at first; the remainder, who are members of the police department and the city attorney’s office, only switched to Google Mail (commonly known as Gmail).14 The estimated initial savings made pos- sible by this contract are attractive: Estimates on the low end are approximately $13.8 million, and if this estimate is expanded to cover all included archiving, automated electronic discovery, and conferenc- ing capabilities that Google Apps has, it could make the savings reach nearly $50 million for the city.15 As a further financial incentive, the contract between Los Angeles and Google is being written to because Google Apps had better security than allow it to spread to other cities in California and thus the ­contemporary level of information technology give rebates to all involved. Upon reaching 100,000 (IT) security for the city. Also, Google was work- individual users working in any municipality in the ing to improve the level of security for aspects of the state, Los Angeles will receive $1.2 million in rebates municipal government such as the police force, which from Google.16 This type of contract could be repli- requested additional security guarantees. These secu- cated by other local governments across the country, rity concerns about the servers being at Google are regardless of size or technical specification. part of the model of , and it has been After implementation in March 2010, the Los Ange- nicknamed the “government cloud” for all levels of les CIO admitted that the switch to all Google services, government considering this approach. meaning both Google Apps and Gmail, was an acci- Entering the “government cloud” dent; the city had intended to emulate the new prac- Cloud computing has captured the imaginations of tices of Washington, D.C., but D.C. had implemented computer users and industry leaders worldwide. Cloud only Google Apps. She comments on the —savings computing refers to the idea of having the actual represented by the change: software in use installed and operated from a cen- The move will save more than $5 million in hard costs and tral computing center (usually owned by a private, $20 million more through increased productivity…. In all, third-party company), and users of the software must everyone’s trying to figure out that age-old ­question of access it on their Internet browsers to use it. This doing more with less, and people are realizing that run- model means that the users’ organizations will not ning [computer] infrastructure [in-house], particularly, need to spend capital on more expensive, modern- is becoming much more of a commodity—and there are ized computer hardware or software. They can derive others who can do it better, faster, and cheaper.17 many more years of use out of the they currently have, because the majority of the software is run on the company’s server. The will need only San Francisco, California a computer good enough to have a decent connection Population: 800,000 (4 million in metropolitan area) to the Internet, which has been the industry standard Website: www.sfgov.org/index.asp of computer replacement policies for years. The U.S. federal government was exploring cloud computing While Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles have made as early as 2008: “Cloud computing can also enhance efforts to incorporate specific free and open-source operational efficiencies and improve the performance software solutions into their municipal information of a technology infrastructure, as end users are access- technology infrastructure, San Francisco was the ing technologies and software hosted elsewhere.”13 first major city to implement an overall open-source

4 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS policy. Rather than allowing for the option of just Cloud computing from a different perspective open-source software or just using open-source soft- San Francisco implements the cloud-computing model ware in one aspect, in a different way than Washington, D.C., and Los San Francisco’s new policy requires city departments Angeles do. Rather than using Google Apps as the to consider open-source software equally with com- software, which is run on servers owned and operated mercial products when purchasing new software. The by Google, San Francisco works with an organiza- opportunities with open source are tremendous: lower tion called 3tera (www.3tera.com). This organization costs, greater agility, better reliability, improved secu- provides the cloud-computing infrastructure for the rity, and increased innovation.18 municipal government, which means that programs With this in mind, it is important to note that any are hosted and run on 3tera’s servers for the city. The department in the city will have the opportunity to specific pieces of software being used are chosen by consider open-source software alternatives only when San Francisco using the aforementioned IT policy and purchasing and implementing new software entirely— are installed on the infrastructure provided by 3tera. not when older proprietary software needs to be This implementation model has different strengths replaced or upgraded.19 and weaknesses than the models of San Francisco and D.C. Los Angeles has all upkeep and software Policy for an “open San Francisco” issues handled directly by Google and therefore Given the progressive nature of this policy, it stands to does not need to get involved unless the city wants reason that there have been many changes in soft- to develop additional applications. San Francisco, ware. The list is lengthy, but a short survey20 shows however, has a much greater degree of control over the numerous possibilities that this forward-looking, which programs it wants to use on the cloud and in cost-saving policy offers: what manner. This also means it has a higher chance of software problems, which requires more IT staff • : A free and open-source Internet trained to address them. browser that is the successor to Navigator of the 1990s. It offers a more stable, versatile, and effective option for Web browsing than does Micro- Portland, Oregon soft Internet Explorer. (www.mozilla.com/en-US) Population: 580,000 (2.2 million in metropolitan area) • Firebug: An open-source piece of debugging soft- Website: www.portlandonline.com ware that works from within Firefox. It is one of the highest-quality examples of free debugging software Portland, Oregon, has approached the open-source for websites. (getfirebug.com) movement in a different way. Beyond using open- • ColorZilla: Another piece of open-source software source software as a cost-saving measure for its that works within Firefox. It allows for the fine-­ municipal government, Portland has sought to influ- tuning of colors and visual effects on a govern- ence its entire governmental procedure with an ment’s website. (www.colorzilla.com/firefox) open-source mindset. This was codified in a resolution passed by its city council in September 2009: • PercentMobile: A free service for measuring data about mobile devices being used within the work- Resolution no. 36735: Mobilize and expand the regional force of a municipality, which in turn can help technology community of software, hardware and ser- inform decisions about how to plan the next round vice professionals by promoting open and transparent of purchases. (percentmobile.com) government, , and partnership ­opportunities • WordPress: A premier free and open-source content between public, private, and non-profit sectors, ­academia, and labor.21 management system for putting government infor- mation online. San Francisco uses this basic service The list of intentions is derived from the commu- as well as a large variety of free plug-ins made by nity’s longstanding interest in open-source software other parties, allowing for a close degree of control and ideals, but now the resolution’s ideals are directly and customization. (wordpress.org) driving local government policy. • GIMP: Free and open-source photo-editing software for organizations that need more sophisticated A comprehensive open-source policy options than but do not want the fees Two key points in the list of clauses in the resolution or features of . (www..org) best describe how this policy differs from that of San

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 5 for local governments Crowdsourcing, a derivative of the open-source movement, has been implemented in a few cities besides Portland. In Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, there has been a strong movement toward crowd sourcing issues with transportation systems and urban planning. The city is working on the second version of its sys- tem, which it calls The CitiWiki Project (www.pghwiki.org), and it encourages citizens to post useful information about which areas need transportation infrastructure upgrades and repairs, all for free and on an as-interested basis. This translates into the areas with the most problems being the most important, as they end up having the most posted comments. Another city using crowdsourcing is New Haven, Connecti- cut: It is making use of called SeeClickFix (seeclickfix.com/citizens). Similar to the in-house solutions of Pittsburgh, this software has produced significant results. We’ve seen people report and be informed about water qual- According to its cofounder, ity from their reservoirs. (O’Reilly Radar)

We have thousands of potholes fixed across the country, All of these outcomes come from a simple piece of software thousands of pieces of graffiti repaired, streetlights turned and have involved heavy citizen input and participation. on, catch basins cleared, all of that basic, broken windows Another company has released software called CitizenSpigit kind of stuff. We’ve seen neighborhood groups form based around issues reported on the site. We’ve seen people get (www.spigit.com/products/e_index.html). It seeks to crowd- new streetlights for their neighborhood, pedestrian improve- source various aspects of reporting problems within a local ments in many different cities, and all-terrain vehicles taken government while providing social media platforms for citizens off of city streets. We’ve seen university shuttle buses slow and government employees to interact. The first municipality to down their speeds by 15 miles per hour across the board. use this software was Manor, Texas.

Sources: James Turner, “Citizens as public sensors,” O’Reilly Radar, April 12, 2010, radar.oreilly.com/2010/04/crowdsourcing-the-dpw.html (accessed July 12, 2010); Luke Fretwell, “Spigit launches CitizenSpigit, Government Crowdsourcing, Engagement Platform,” Gov2.0, May 27, 2010, govfresh.com/2010/05/spigit-launches-citizenspigit- government-crowdsourcing-engagement-platform (accessed July 12, 2010).

Francisco and the executive decisions of Vivek ­Kundra citizens. This is based on a principle related to open in Washington, D.C. Besides the shared interest in source called crowdsourcing, which holds that more using open-source software for local government eyes looking at a problem will yield better solutions in employees, there is a focus on changing something a shorter period of time. as mundane as types. The resolution holds: This open-source policy in Portland has multiple aspects designed to crowdsource aspects of improving Publishing structured standardized data in machine- local governance. The entire initiative in Portland is readable formats creates new opportunities for infor- dependent on the ability of its citizens to access the mation from different sources to be combined and data; therefore, the resolution includes a section that visualized in new and unexpected ways, for niche mar- kets to be indentified and developed, and for citizens mandates specific ways of making data available: to browse, interpret, and draw attention to trends or The adoption of open standards improves , 22 issues with greater efficiency. access to public information, and improved coordination and efficiencies among bureaus and partner organiza- As implied, this aspect of the resolution is seeking tions across the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.23 to open source all data generated and collected by the Portland government, but the city council also man- The data are mandated to be saved in open-source dates that data is made available in electronic formats file formats. Instead of saving a spreadsheet in the to increase the ease of distribution to all involved , which is proprietary and

6 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS not in compliance with the International Standards Largo spends a total of 1.3 percent of its gross budget Organization (ISO), Portland’s employees would save on IT. This includes hardware, software, salaries, and it as an ISO-compliant Open Document Spreadsheet. incidental expenses…. [T]he typical small city spends The process is easier for both private citizens and over 3 percent of its budget on IT, with some approach- 27 professional organizations to participate in. There are ing 4 percent. numerous free productivity suites available for citizens These are not insignificant savings. They are dem- to access the information in an , removing­ onstrated by looking at savings from the city of Gar- the common issue of incompatible file formats den Grove, California: In its first year of using between professional organizations. servers and solutions, it saved $380,552; thereafter, it experienced $70,465 in approximate annual savings.28 Encouraging citizen involvement in open source There is a multi-tiered method to achieving this Given that the government of Portland is working level of savings. In a similar vein, Garden Grove saves to make itself more open and transparent, it stands $7,000 annually by doing its records and imaging to reason that the city would want additional open- backup on-site, using a Linux server.29 The industry source resources made available to its citizens and standard for replacing desktop computers is cur- scholars. As such, the Portland local government rently after 3 to 4 years of use, at which point they has been directed to work with Travel Portland and become obsolete. Largo has circumvented this issue, regional partners to promote Portland as a host making its computers last 10 years before needing to city for leading Open Source Software conferences be replaced. More incredibly, the computers it does and related technology events, such as LinuxCon use are often low-cost and require no maintenance; and Innotech.24 the IT department never has to spend time updating This directive has many implementations. A recent software on a desktop computer in the city’s intranet. example of a successful open-source event involv- This is possible due to client computing, the predeces- ing the Portland local government is the Open Source sor of the aforementioned cloud computing by several Bridge, a conference about the possibilities of open- decades. As such, one member of Largo’s IT depart- source citizenship—getting citizens directly involved ment estimated in as early as 2002 that using Linux in improving transparent government.25 One of the “saves the city at least $1 million a year in hardware, founders of Open Source Bridge, Audrey Eschright software licensing, maintenance, and staff costs.”30 says open-source citizenship is a complex idea: This nearly universal reliance on open-source soft- ware removes a common problem for IT profession- It seems important to bridge the kinds of roles we have als: worrying about not having the proper number of in open source, user/contributor/owner/institution, software on hand during audits. This auditing getting down to something more fundamental. What else are people who interact in this multidirectional process can be very time-consuming, and wastes time way? Perhaps we’re citizens. Not residents—we do better spent providing vital IT services for a local gov- more than live here. We are, like citizens of a country, ernment. In Largo, the vast majority of software in use engaged in the practice of an interlocking set of rights is open source and Linux-based, but machines that are and responsibilities.26 compliant with Microsoft products are run for the few employees who require such programs. In this explanation, Eschright describes a type of Schomaker said he could lose his job if Largo were engagement and participation in governance that fined for missing licenses, so the city spends more many local governments desire of their citizens. It is money than needed to have extra licenses on hand.31 based heavily on the use of open-source software and By seeking to have as much software as possible be is operating on the basis of open-source ideals. free and open source, Largo saves additional money on direct costs of licenses and protects itself from potential legal issues. Along these lines, one of the Largo, Florida best free and open-source alternatives to the Micro- Population: 75,000 soft Office productivity suite is OpenOffice.org. Its Website: www.largo.com website explains:

A long-standing and highly involved user of open- OpenOffice.org 3 can be downloaded and used entirely source software is Largo, Florida. Harold A. Scho- free of any licence [sic] fees. OpenOffice.org 3 is maker, the IT manager and CIO of Largo, has said: released under the LGPL licence [sic]. This means you

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 7 may use it for any purpose—domestic, commercial, educational, public administration. You may install it on as many computers as you like. You may make cop- ies and give them away to family, friends, students, employees—anyone you like.32

This is a far cry from worrying about audits. Largo makes extensive use of OpenOffice.org.

Centralized hubs: Linux-based thin- client computing It is necessary to explain what client computing is to understand how Largo can provide such stable and effective computing services at low costs to the city’s a several-day turnaround for repairs; it means get- employees. Rather than operating full-fledged desktop ting a spare computer set up for that user and getting PCs, Largo makes use of Linux thin clients, so named him logged back in within 5 minutes. Logging in is because they lack moving parts (like fans), have done via the terminal (for Windows users of the early no internal hard drive space, and are therefore less 1990s, this would be called the command prompt), expensive. The IT department runs multiple central- which is a text-only window that allows flexibility ized Linux servers, which run all programs used by and usability within Linux for more advanced users any employee. while also being viable for less advanced users. Dave When an employee is logged on to a thin client, he ­Richards, while working in IT for Largo, said: sees the program being run on his own machine, but There is a 48 percent reduction in cost on the Micro- the computing resources are provided almost entirely soft Windows platform by moving it from an unman- by the centralized machine. These client machines run aged PC environment to a centralized design with thin almost silently: Since virtually none of the processing is clients. Half the cost, and no change in functionality. done directly on the client machine, the video card and Imagine then what the savings would be if companies central processing unit are much less powerful, there- had the option to move to thin clients *and* Linux at fore reducing the amount of heat produced and making the same. A major part of the cost …is licenses and passive cooling (without noisy fans) a viable solution. software products. Imagine going into companies and Schomaker adds to this model, summarizing the telling them that they could save 60 to 70 percent on system as one in which any employee can sit down at computing costs. Really, trying to shake off Microsoft any computer and, using the graphical interface to log Windows from their personal computers just isn’t in like on Windows or a Mac, be able to run any Mac, enough to warrant a change for most people. It doesn’t offer the major cost reductions that are found with a Windows, Linux, or program from the central complete and stable redesign. Centralized computing servers on their own machines. For strong security, using thin clients really works. There shouldn’t be so the IT department closely regulates all peripherals that few of us implementing and being the voice.35 are being used, which means that using a CD or USB drive or installing any new software has to be directly That means that this approach is viable for people approved by IT, making for an airtight layer of inter- who are not entirely sold on the idea of Linux for local nal security.33 This may sound overly restrictive, but it governments, but the estimated 48 percent savings on makes sense within the thin-client model of computing: the client-computing model simply does not com- If all data is stored on a central machine and that same pare to the almost 70 percent projected savings of the central machine runs all programs, there is no need to client-computing model using Linux. It is important to transfer data or add programs for individual users. note that local governments can go the opposite way This hardware setup is paired with the client with Linux as well; using full desktop versions of a method of running the software. Since all programs free or cheap on all of their comput- and applications are run on the central servers, noth- ers will still save a significant amount of money from ing is saved on an individual machine, which means licensing fees. Government Computer News recently that there are virtually no technical problems at any reviewed several Linux options. Many variations, or given time.34 If all machines are interchangeable, distributions, of Linux are available, and the study experiencing an unlikely technical issue doesn’t mean analyzed four best options for local governments.36

8 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS Northglenn, Colorado Population: 34,000 Website: www.northglenn.org Northglenn, Colorado, is a relative newcomer to using open-source solutions but has strongly committed to this change and therefore reaped benefits from this decision. In 2003, the city decided that it would make strong efforts toward open sourcing its software solu- tions and, toward this end, hired an IT department head, a network administrator, and an open-source software developer.37 In describing the reasons the city decided to switch, IT department head Bob Lehr said:

The first and most fundamental [motivation] is that it very competent and highly motivated, and would love largely eliminates the costs of acquisition. Note that to make their hobby into a paying job. They enjoy mak- licensing costs are just a part of that. There is also ing things work and learning new things, and seek a the manpower behind research (e.g., job that would allow them to continue those practices.39 Which version of this product should we license? Do we need per-CPU licensing? Was that per-core or These are ideal IT employees. The IT department ­per-socket? Enterprise or Server? How many CALs are from Northglenn presents a comparative archetype of required? etc.) and license management (storage, track- employees forced to work with a closed-source server ing, retrieval) that is entirely avoided with open source. system (where even if they are highly creative, com- And, for many government agencies, the bureaucratic petent, and motivated, they cannot edit the closed- process of procurement can be long, complex, and not source code themselves): pleasant to navigate. Open-source software, being freely available for download, jumps over all those hoops and Contrast an open-source implementation position with make acquisition painless and free.38 a “defined skill set,” where the first diagnostic action is to reboot the server and the second is to call the vendor The cost-saving argument was compelling enough and wait in a telephone hold queue. It is easy to under- to cause Northglenn nto head in a new direction. As stand why open-source jobs are prized.40 the results accumulated, they made two vital realiza- tions: that they could provide better and safer steward- Last, entering into the usage of some open-source ship of public information by using open source while software enables a local government IT department using fewer public funds, and that they could easily to be well-positioned and trained to implement future combine open-source and closed-source software solu- open-source innovations over time. This is punctuated tions to best pursue their IT projects. by the fact that previously exorbitant proprietary pro- In addition to this main line of reasoning for adopt- grams for functions such as Web content management ing open source, Northglenn has several other reasons systems, document imaging and management systems, for striving to use open-source solutions. While it is intranet portals, and voice-over-Internet-protocols are well-established that replacing proprietary software now cheaply or sometimes freely added, and this will with open-source software will lower costs signifi- be easier with a staff trained and interested in open- 41 cantly, it is also possible to add additional services source software and policies. with open source at almost no cost. Northglenn Pairing closed- and open-source to provide for all encodes and hosts video footage of its city council computing needs meetings on its website, costing next to nothing while The list of open-source software and solutions imple- making governance much more transparent to citi- mented by Northglenn is lengthy. It has Linux-based zens. Another unexpected reason Northglenn gives for servers, open-source fax services, and OpenOffice on using open source is that it is rewarding work: some computers as its office productivity suite, and it People who work with open-source software do it added open-source flat-panel touch screens for coun- because they like it. Usually they get into the practice cilors in the city chamber to vote and work with. The because it is fun and rewarding for them. They are often presence of open-source software is unmistakably an

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 9 integral part of the foundation of its IT infrastructure.42 However, Lehr explains that this vital foundation of open-source software is only part of the IT operations:

During this period the city’s IT department also deployed many closed-source proprietary software products when no credible open-source alternative could be found. These products included a municipal court system, a new financial system, a police record-management sys- tem, and a rec-center software package, among others.43 Interested in learning more and hearing from the Northglenn has pursued the ideal IT solution experts in this field? Join the Knowledge Network for each specific need it had, resulting in a hybrid discussion about Local Governments and Open Source! approach to computing: It has long-term employees icma.org/osgroup and policies that work for open sourcing the IT depart- ment, yet it also recognizes that some closed-source Is your local government already involved in using products fulfill specific needs best. open source? We would love to know about it. Check out our wiki and make some edits. Get involved in open source! icma.org/oswiki After reading the case studies and reasons for getting started with open source, visit the ICMA’s Knowledge Network, which itself is an open-source exercise. We This potential variability in application translates provide a forum for local government leaders and into another strength: Many local governments using other interested parties to candidly discuss what does different options will provide easily accessible data for and does not work in local governance. We have con- which software solutions work best in specific kinds of tacted many of the individual IT experts mentioned in local governments, meaning that future municipalities this report and IT leaders in other U.S. local govern- making the change will be even better informed. Plus, ments, and they have agreed to make a free profile on free and open-source options are often easy to learn, our Knowledge Network, meaning that you can ask with almost no learning curve involved. Schomaker, them questions directly while discussing the possibili- director of IT in Largo, was proud to announce that ties offered by open-source software with other local the graphical user interface system of their system was government leaders around the nation. so similar to the industry standard of Windows that there were negligible differences between their use of Making open-source software Linux and other offices using Windows.44 In 2009, the World Congress on Engineering and solutions work for your government Computer Science featured one of the first statistical Having examined six local governments in the United examinations of U.S. local governments making use States and their comparative use of free and open- of open-source software. The study set out to deter- source technologies, as well as cloud computing and mine if cities are capable of fully using open-source client computing, there are several immediate facts software solutions at the present time. The approach worth commenting on. First and foremost, there was based on three criteria: (1) the capability of a are multiple ways to implement free or open-source municipality to achieve comprehensive open-source software solutions for the needs of a local govern- use, (2) the discipline to stay with the new IT meth- ment. This flexibility is not necessarily intuitive, nor is ods, and (3) the cultural affinity of the municipal- it mainstream yet; municipal governments will often ity as a workplace for open-source software.45 One consider the cost of custom-tailored software for enor- observations that can explain the lack of prevalence mous sums of money. But adhering to the norms of of open-source software in local government to date the majority instead of achieving massive savings and is that “it is more likely [that] an organization will better computing performance does not seem viable continue to use a software product once deployed any longer, given the budget difficulties faced by all and established than to abandon the product.”46 The governments, local or otherwise. report ends by concluding:

10 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS While a majority of cities in the study show some characteristics that indicate the adoption of OSS [open- Starting points and tools source software] is possible, and indeed on a trivial Internet browsers level (with a few notable exceptions) some cities are It is easy to make the switch from Microsoft’s Internet using OSS, still most cities still lack key characteristics in the three domains [capability, discipline, cultural Explorer or Apple’s to a free, open-source Inter- affinity] to enable a successful comprehensive adop- net browser that is more stable and secure and also tion of OSS.47 offers more options for customization. • Mozilla Firefox: www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ In essence, the report demonstrates that doing an personal.html entire switch to open-source software solutions is not • : www.google.com/chrome viable for most local governments. But this is not a problem, given the first strength discussed in this sec- • Opera: www.opera.com tion: Flexibility is built into open-source software, so it is entirely reasonable to only implement open-source Word processing/application suites software incrementally. Both this report and Dave Although Microsoft Word and its attendant .doc or ­Richards of Largo contend that making use of open- .xls file types are perceived to be the standard for source software in a local government setting can hap- document files, in reality, the International Standards pen in stages, with additional savings made possible by Organization (ISO) has approved the Open Document taking further steps toward open source. It is reasonable Format, which uses Open Document Text (.odt) for and viable to try it out in stages in terms of comfort, as textual documents and Open Document Spreadsheet well—if a local government’s employees find that they (.ods) for . Some widely used applications don’t like a certain aspect, there are other free or low- for this are as follows: cost open-source options available to try. • OpenOffice.org: A suite of programs you download A third strength, and in an entirely different para- and install on your computer for free. It functions digm than the software business community, using almost exactly like but is free and open-source software means that a local government is has better stability. (www.openoffice.org) part of a software community, rather than just another • Google Documents: A suite of applications available paying client. All distributions of Linux that are online through Google that is free to use and has a viable for local government use have a user-operated­ strong focus on enabling real-time collaboration on online forum attached, where issues are brought up documents and spreadsheets. It allows you to save 48 for public discussion. This means that anything your documents in Open Document Format when- from trouble getting started with Linux initially to ever you want to take them with you offline. (docs. advanced discussion of working through software google.com/demo/?hl=en) bugs for future versions happen in the same open and free-to-access environment. Even though traditional PDF readers capitalism disallows for the possibility of people pro- There are many lightweight and performance-focused viding free advice to others consistently, these forums options available for PDF readers that are worth taking disprove those notions. Linux Forum ­provides general a look at. advice for using the Linux , while more specific forums like (e.g., openSUSE Forum, the • Foxit Reader: The halfway between open-source Forums) provide advice for, by, and about software and commercial software. A Ubuntu users the world over. This means that there is ­version of its PDF reader, as well as the option to pur- nothing stopping your local government from mak- chase additional features as desired (e.g., the ability ing the switch to some or all open-source solutions. to edit ), is available. (www.foxitsoftware.com) The instructions for its use are online, this software • Evince: A free and open-source PDF reader. It was is often free or at least low-cost, and it is not propri- originally intended for use only on the Linux oper- etary, so you can use as much or as little open-source ating system but is now available on Windows as software as you want to start with. well. (live..org/Evince/Downloads)

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 11 Content management systems those that use Microsoft Project, there are several For local governments that have started a blog or are open-source options that are well regarded in the considering it, the various free and open-source con- open-source community. tent management systems available should be high on • DotProject: Read more about this software at their list of potential software solutions. .net/projects/dotproject/files. • Joomla!: www.joomla.org • OpenProj: You can read about the software at • WordPress: wordpress.org openproj.org/openproj and download the most ­current version for Windows (or whatever operating • Alfresco: www.alfresco.com system your machine is using) at sourceforge.net/ Geographic information systems projects/openproj/files.

Many municipalities and other local governments Media players need the ability to track situations accurately using In today’s computing world, there are far too many global positioning systems (GPS) and then make the types of video files in use, many of which are propri- data available online. This is often called geographic etary attempts at “winning the market.” As a result, information systems (GIS), and there are a slew of and Apple’s QuickTime ­expensive proprietary options that quickly become don’t have the capability to play all types of files. obsolete and have annual costs. Instead, local govern- ­Alternatives include: ments can consider these options: • VLC Media Player: A widely acclaimed open-source • OpenLayers: Enables a city to post onto its solution whose motto—“It plays everything!”—is website a free map of any size and update it easily. true. (www..org/vlc) (openlayers.org) • : An option designed for abso- • OpenStreetMap: An open-source version of what lute simplicity, ease of use, and maximum function- Google Maps aspires to provide, but with a ality. (sourceforge.net/projects/guliverkli) -esque approach. Anyone can edit the map based on their localized knowledge. Crowdsourcing applications (www..org) For cities interested in crowdsourcing aspects of their • World Wind: An open-source method of seeing a local governance, there are several commercial options satellite map of any area, similar to the proprietary available, meaning that they are not free (although Google Earth. It was created by NASA. (worldwind they allow for a sort of open-sourcing of problems in .arc.nasa.gov/java) a community). That said, if enough local governments • GeoServer: Designed to encourage interoperability demonstrate interest in a program that allows citizens between users. Local governments in close proxim- to report problems (e.g., potholes, graffiti) or examine ity or within the same county could benefit from data to find trends that other individuals might not this. (geoserver.org/display/GEOS/Welcome) see, the nature of the open-source community is such • Quantum GIS: An open-source method of compos- that the desired program will likely be created and ing maps for a variety of uses. (www..org) consistently improved. • SeeClickFix: This program prides itself on making Survey software all citizens into sensors for the municipal govern- If your local government is looking for a quick and ment, so that anyone who notices a problem easy way to gather statistical evidence from your con- (e.g., with public works) can easily report it online stituents, there are several excellent options available, for members of the government to work on quickly. many of which are free and offer a professional ver- (seeclickfix.com/citizens) sion with additional features for those who need them. • CitizenSpigit: This software is based on the premise • LimeSurvey (www.limesurvey.org) that problem reporting is only part of the equation. • SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com) It also includes the ability for citizens interested in similar areas to form discussion groups and then Project management pass on their findings to the government (local, For local governments that need more collaboration- state, or federal). (www.spigit.com/products/ friendly software than Google Document option or e_index.html)

12 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS • The CitiWiki: This site built by Pittsburgh is an in- Operating systems49 house method of crowdsourcing. (www.pghwiki.org) • Desktop Pro 4 (Linux-based): Open source cloud computing www.xandros.com Released right before the publication of this report, a • Novell SUSE Linux 11 (Linux-based): partnership between NASA and a company called Rack- www.novell.com space has resulted in the public release of open source • openSUSE Linux 11.2 (Linux-based): cloud computing software called OpenStack. www..org/en • OpenStack: This is a piece of software for local • RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 (Linux-based): governments with a dedicated staff of IT profes- www.redhat.com sionals, as it will allow them to create their own • Ubuntu 10.04 (Linux-based): www.ubuntu.com cloud computing environment completely in-house. • OpenSolaris (Unix-based): (www..org/) hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Main Other specific applications Linux forums • OpenGeo: If you’re looking for a GIS, there is a free • Linux forums: Individuals who have generic trial from Open Geo. (opengeo.org) questions regarding the Linux operating system • FixCity and Bike Racks: Although at the time of this need look no further than the Linux Forums. report being written it is still being tested, FixCity (www.linuxforums.org) has released a pilot program that is open source and • Ubuntu forums: Some of the best response times seeks to let citizens vote and input data on where for questions regarding an operating system can bike racks really need to be installed. It then maps be found on the Ubuntu Forums, which have and collates the data and prepares official requests thousands of users at all levels of proficiency. to the Department of Transportation. (fixcity.org) (ubuntuforums.org) • Apps for Democracy: As referenced in the case study • openSUSE forums: This is a free distribution of of Washington, D.C., this page offers all of the Linux and has a widely populated forum about programs and applications written free of charge using the operating system. (forums.opensuse.org) to all interested parties. This means that your local government could link to this page and ask local citizens to rework the applications for your munici- pality. (www.appsfordemocracy.org)

USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS 13 Referenced works The articles and reports referenced in this report are also available on ICMA’s Knowledge Network for ease of access. icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/ icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/­ Document/301333/The_Future_of_Open_Source_in_Government Document/301354/Local_Government_Embraces_Open_Source_ icma.org/en/Article/100332/ Technology__Linux_in_the_City_of_Garden_Grove_CA Why_cant_local_government_and_open_source_be_friends icma.org/en/Article/100359/Across_the_Country_Local_­ icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Docu- Governments_Are_Giving_Linux_a_Hard_Look ment/301334/Open_or_Closed_New_Report_on_Open_Source_ icma.org/en/Article/100361/Thin_Clients_and_Remote_3D in_Local_Government icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/­ icma.org/en/Article/100333/Open_Source_Could_Cut_Costs_for_ Document/301355/Open_Source_Software_Use_in_Municipal_ Federal_State_and_Local_Government_Opinion Government_Is_full_immersion_possible icma.org/en/Article/100334/ icma.org/en/Article/100366/City_saves_with_Linux_thin_clients Open_source_infiltrates_government_IT_worldwide icma.org/en/Article/100369/Citizens_as_public_sensors icma.org/en/Article/100335/ icma.org/en/Article/100370/Spigit_launches_CitizenSpigit_­ Los_Angeles_gets_its_Google_Apps_groove government_crowdsourcing_engagement_platform icma.org/en/Article/100336/Randi_Levin_CTO_Los_Angeles icma.org/en/Article/100375/Government_to_set_up_own_cloud_ icma.org/en/Article/100337/Cloud_computing_for_government computing_system icma.org/en/Article/100338/City_in_the_cloud icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/ icma.org/en/Article/100339/Why_Open_Source_is_the_New_ 301388/Using_Geographic_Information_Systems_to_Increase_ Software_Policy_in_San_Francisco Citizen_Engagement icma.org/en/Article/100352/Open_Source_Bridge_is_a_Huge_Success icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/Document/ 301435/Software_Selection_in_an_OpenSourceOriented_ icma.org/en/Article/100353/Largo_still_loves_Linux Government_IT_Department icma.org/en/Article/100357Linux_is_looking_ready_for_ mainstream_users

14 USING FREE, OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS Notes 1 Tom Walker, “Industry Viewpoint: The Future of Open Source in 23 Ibid. Government,” February 2, 2004, icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_ 24 Ibid. pg. 2 network/documents/kn/Document/301474/Industry_Viewpoint_ 25 Doug Coleman, “Open Source Bridge is a Huge Success,” Read- The_Future_of_Open_Source_in_Government (accessed WriteWeb, June 20, 2009, www.readwriteweb.com/archives/ July 12, 2010). the_first_ever_entirely_volunteer_run_open_source_conference_ 2 Charles Arthur, “Why Can’t Government and Open Source is_a_huge_success. (accessed July 12, 2010). Be Friends?” guardian.co.uk, August 7, 2009, www.guardian 26 Ibid. .co.uk/technology/2009/aug/07/local-government-open-source-­ 27 Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller, “Largo loves Linux more than ever,” birmingham-website-costs (accessed July 12, 2010). linux.com, December 9, 2002, www.linux.com/archive/ 3 , “The Open Source Definition,” n.d., feed/26827 (accessed July 12, 2010). www.opensource.org/docs/osd (accessed July 12, 2010). 28 Garden Grove CA IT Department, “Local Government Embraces 4 Public Sector Forums, “Open or Closed? A Survey of Open Open Source Technology,” n.d., ch.ci.garden-grove.ca.us/­ Source Software in Local Government,” August 2009, http:// internet/is/linuxwhitepaper.html (accessed July 12, 2010). ukgovoss.org/2009/08/06/open-or-closed-report/ (accessed July 29 Dan Orzech, “Across the Country, Local Governments Are Giving 12, 2010). Linux a Hard Look,” CIO Update, July 18, 2003 www.cioupdate 5 Bill Vass, “Open Source Could Cut Costs for Federal, State and .com/trends/article.php/2237451/Across-the-Country-Local-­ Local Government (Opinion),” Government Technology, June 22, Governments-Are-Giving-Linux-a-Hard-Look.htm (accessed 2009, www.govtech.com/gt/696825?id=696825&full=1&story_ July 12, 2010). pg=1 (accessed July 12, 2010). 30 Lynn Haber, “City saves with Linux, thin clients,” ZDNet, 6 Jim Romeo, “Open Source Infiltrates Government and IT World- April 5, 2002, www.zdnet.com/news/city-saves-with-linux-thin- wide,” NetworkWorld, January 3, 2008, www.networkworld.com/ clients/297808 (accessed July 12, 2010). news/2008/030108-ossi.html?page=2 (accessed July 12, 2010). 31 Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller, “Largo loves Linux more than ever,” 7 Elizabeth Montalbano, “Washington Uses Google Apps to Power linux.com, December 9, 2002, www.linux.com/archive/ New Intranet,” October 14, 2008, icma.org/en/Article/100316/ feed/26827 (accessed July 12, 2010). Washington_Uses_Google_Apps_to_Power_New_Intranet 32 OpenOffice.org, “Why OpenOffice.org,” n.d.,why.openoffice.org/ (accessed July 12, 2010). (accessed July 12, 2010). 8 Ibid. 33 Taken from a phone interview with Schomaker on 6/19/2010 9 Patrick Marshall, “City in the Cloud,” Government Computer 34 Robin ‘Roblimo’ Miller, “Largo still loves Linux,” linux.com, News, November 14, 2008, gcn.com/articles/2008/11/14/ September 21, 2007, www.linux.com/archive/­feature/119109 city-in-the-cloud.aspx (accessed July 12, 2010). (accessed July 12, 2010). 10 Ibid. pg. 2 35 Dave Richards, “Thin Clients and Remote 3D,” Dave Richards— 11 Apps for Democracy, “Apps for Democracy: Community Edition,” City of Largo Work Blog, December 8, 2006, davelargo.blogspot. n.d., http://www.appsfordemocracy.org/ (accessed July 12, 2010). com/2006/12/thin-clients-and-remote-3d.html (accessed July 12 Elinor Mills, “Los Angeles gets it Google Apps groove,” cnet 12, 2010). news, August 20, 2009, news.cnet.com/8301–27080_3–10313846– 36 Carlos A. Soto, “Linux is looking ready for mainstream 245.html (accessed July 12, 2010). users,” Government Computer News, April 2, 2010, gcn.com/ 13 Kathleen Hickey, “Cloud computing for government,” Articles/2010/04/05/Review-Linux-alternative-OSes.aspx?sc_ Government Computer News, August 19, 2008, gcn.com/ lang=en&Page=1 (accessed July 12, 2010). articles/2008/08/19/cloud-computing-for-government.aspx 37 Bob Lehr and Dan Schmick, “Software Selection in an Open- (accessed July 12, 2010). Source-Oriented Government IT Department,” Northglenn CO 14 Elinor Mills, “Los Angeles gets it Google Apps groove,” cnet IT Department, June 25, 2010, icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_­ news, August 20, 2009, news.cnet.com/8301–27080_3–10313846– network/documents/kn/Document/301435/Software_­Selection_ 245.html (accessed July 12, 2010). in_an_OpenSourceOriented_Government_IT_Department 15 Ibid. (accessed July 12, 2010). pg 1. 16 Ibid. 38 Ibid. 17 Matt Williams, “Randi Levin, CTO, Los Angeles,” Government 39 Ibid. pg. 2–3 Technology, March 1, 2010, www.govtech.com/gt/747354 40 Ibid. pg. 3 (accessed July 12, 2010). 41 Ibid. pg. 3 18 Gavin Newsom, “Why Open Source is the New Software Policy 42 Ibid. pg. 3–4 in San Francisco,” Mashable Tech, January 1, 2010, mashable 43 Ibid. pg. 3 .com/2010/01/22/open-source-san-francisco/ (accessed July 12, 44 Taken from a phone interview with Schomaker on 6/19/2010 2010). 45 David J. Ward and Eric Y. Tao, “Open Source Software Use in 19 San Francisco Committee on Information Technology, “COIT Municipal Government: Is full immersion possible?” Proceedings Software Evaluation Policy” n.d., www.sfgov.org/site/coit_page of the World Congress on Engineering and Computer Science, .asp?id=115978 (accessed July 12, 2010). October 22, 2009, www.iaeng.org/publication/WCECS2009/ 20 City and County of San Francisco Office of the Mayor, “Technolo- WCECS2009_pp1044–1049. (accessed July 12, 2010). pg 1. gies used in creating this site” n.d., http://www.sfmayor 46 Ibid. pg. 5 .org/2009/09/technologies/ (accessed July 12, 2010). 47 Ibid. pg. 6 21 City of Portland OR, “Resolution No. 36735,” September 30, 48 See the Starting Points and Tools section of this report for 2009, icma.org/en/icma/knowledge_network/documents/kn/ some examples. Document/301331/Res_No_36735__Regional_technology_ 49 Carlos A. Soto, “Linux is looking ready for mainstream community_mobilization_and_expansion_resolution (accessed users,” Government Computer News, April 2, 2010, gcn.com/ July 12, 2010). pg 1. Articles/2010/04/05/Review-Linux-alternative-OSes.aspx?sc_ 22 Ibid. lang=en&Page=1 (accessed July 12, 2010).

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