THE Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seems to have already become somewhat of a department of Microsoft. It happened soon after they had appointed a Microsoft executive to take charge [1, 2] under pressure from BSA folks (some of whom are former employees of Bill Gates' dad, who habitually assists his son's business [1, 2, 3]).

The Government has been far from forthcoming when it comes to revealing any details behind the New South Wales (NSW) laptop tender choices. There are unanswered questions.

Open source advocate and former Linux Australia president Pia Waugh today revealed she will be leaving her business and joining the staff of Senator Kate Lundy as a policy advisor.

The Federal Communications Commission is seeking comment on a natonal broadband plan, with detailed rules expected next year. (To the right, incoming FCC chair Julius Genachowski.)

Turkey gradually moves to GNU/Linux starting with the administration, so Steve Ballmer pays a visit and pays the government

The U.S. Defense Department is enlisting an open source approach to software development -- an about-face for such a historically top-down organization.

Thanks, in large part, to a little company called Standard Oil, Open Source isn't necessarily the first term to come to mind when one thinks of the name Rockefeller. However, that's exactly the term Mr. Rockefeller's great-grandson, Senator Jay Rockefeller, is pushing in Congress — attached to a bill to strengthen Open Source in health-care.

BOTH MICROSOFT and Novell will have a role or at least some impact at a formal, national level. Mundie's involvement is a subject that we covered yesterday [1, 2], but we wrote not as much about Schmidt's impact. Sun, Google, and Novell are all places where he worked, so his affinity towards particular companies cannot be ignored.