jeff,Hi, I'm Jeff one of the principal drafters of the bill and a senior staff at the office of Rep. Teddy Casiño.
First I would like to express my gratitude for the attention you folks gave this bill. I appreciate your comments and as a matter of fact, some of the comments have been incorporated in the final version of the FOSS bill, now HB 5769. Please feel free to scan through the bill attached in this email.
Regarding some of the questions, let me answer some of those:
1.) Any one can use ANY programming language nor any compiler as long as the final output shall be FOSS licensed and the specifications adgere to open standards as defined in the bill. Having said that, please understand that there is an issue of open standard and how FOSS can actually run on open standard compliant platforms. For example C++ have Microsoft compilers, Borland, etc… C++ being the de facto universal programming language to date in the field of software reverse engineering, and since Linux source code is written in variations of C/C++, I don't think it would be an issue. But, how can we promote FOSS if you are using a source code who's syntax exclusively runs on proprietary programming languages? In any case, let me reiterate that the bill allows government to transact with software developers using ANY programming language as long as the final output is FOSS licensed and adheres to open standards
2.) Good point regarding forcing developers to ensure software compatibilty and scalability for an unlimited amount of time. Aside from being impractical, it unnesseraily burdens industry players from transacting with government. In fact, the fbill as filed does not have that specific provision anymore. Thanks for the comment.
à any other questions? Shoot me an email. But please, don't expect me to answer as often as you might expect. I also have to scan through the budget books for 2007. :D Cheers.
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Andre John Cruz
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 1:34 PM
To: Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Technical Discussion List
Subject: Re: [plug] FOSS Forum
this is great. if i could attend it i actually would.
i called the attention of other people to the draft open source bill, including pro-Microsoft people in www.msforums.ph :P
there was this comment that probably deserves attention...the question was something like, what if the application system is written in Java or .NET? Java is not (yet) open source; .NET is nowhere near that (though there is a partially compatible open source implementation). even if the end application or system is licensed under some www.opensource.org approved license, can this system qualify for a bid for a government project? i'm pretty sure there are excellent open source applications out there that are based on Java or .NET, and it would be a shame if they will be inapplicable to government projects/systems because their underlying frameworks or libraries are not open source.
another item in the bill that raised serious questions were those about making sure that the system can work on any platform, and that if it doesn't then the bidder should foot the bill of porting it to ensure that it works properly. what if, for example, a company proposes a solution that runs on the Linux 2.6 kernel (the current version) and wins the bid...then about five years down the line, the new Linux 4.0 kernel breaks compatibility on that and the system refuses to run on the common Linux distros with the (hypothetical) version 4.0 kernel. will the company have to revisit its old code, fix it up to make it work on the new kernel version and ensure compatibility with other platforms? i'm thinking that scenario alone would scare would-be bidders...
On 9/12/06, kaloy < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
dear paolo,
here are the details of the FOSS forum to be held
tomorrow here at the house of representatives. it's
your opportunity to voice out your opinion especially
regarding the proposed legislation.
what: FOSS Forum
theme: Viability and Cost-effectiveness of Free/Open
Source Software in the Philippines
date: 13 September 2006
time: 1:00pm - 4:00 pm
venue: Minority Conference Room
North Wing Basement
House of Representatives
BAtasan Road, Quezon City
contact person:
kaloy garcia
931.5911
0922.815.0676
sana marami makapunta from PLUG, especially the
officers.
thanks and hope to see you tomorrow,
kaloy
i hope you can modify section 8 of the proposed bill or omit it, it's totally against FOSS paradigm.
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