Kerala IT policy envisions an inclusive knowledge society, but it still remains just words. There is no effort to implement the policy in any of the initiatives the government is taking. The recent incident is the tax filing application which mandates use of Microsoft Excel fomat for tax filings and the macro does not work with Free Software replacements like Open Office Calc.

"Change.org (not the same as Change.gov) provides a feature where site members can suggest ideas they’d like to see adopted by the United States Government. One suggestion currently getting attention on the site is to Support the Free Software Movement..."

"Will he build a Free Society or a walled-garden of control? ..." -- Change.org - Ideas for Changing America: Support the Free Software Movement

Recalling the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Declaration of Principles which states that “[i]nternational standards aim to create an environment where consumers can access services worldwide regardless of underlying technology,”

Recognizing that standards are increasingly global concerns, involving goods and services that move in international trade across borders,

Short note: Germany's new IT-Council announced today that they will introduce ODF in the federal public administration. All federal public administrations should be able to receive, sent, read, and modify ODF documents until beginning of 2010.

Barack Obama's campaign built a powerful synergy between grass-roots politics and grass-roots technology, while presenting what many consider to be the most disciplined campaign of any candidate in modern history.

The Open Source Repository and Observatory (OSOR), a new site sponsored by the European Commission to foster the exchange of FOSS related information and software among European public administrations, recently published guidelines on the procurement of open source software.

WHAT does Microsoft do when someone says: No, sorry, we do not want to use your software any more. If that someone is a small business operating in an increasingly cut-throat world, a great deal of pressure can be brought to bear on them to fall into line.