E-Government Conference laden with Open (and Shared) Source goodies

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by Tina Gasperson
The Center of Open Source & Government is sponsoring a conference that is designed to “raise awareness” and “share experiences among policy makers” from the U.S. and Europe. The event is jam-packed with speakers that Open Source advocates will find interesting. And Microsoft will be there too.The conference, officially entitled “Open Source for National and Local eGovernment Programs in the U.S. and EU” is scheduled for March 17-19, 2003, in Washington, DC, at the Cafritz Conference Center on the campus of George Washington University.

There are several tracks to choose from: European Perspectives, Japan, Mexico, Open Source Business Cases, Federal Enterprise Architecture, State Government Perspectives, eHealth, Corporate Open Source Perspectives, Open Source Policy, Legal Issues, Open Source Projects, Experiences of Open Source Companies, and Security.

Some of the more interesting speakers on the agenda include Jay Beale of Bastille Linux, Marcus Sachs of the White House Office of Cyberspace Security, and Jason Matusow of Microsoft.

Matusow will speak about Shared Source. Here’s the abstract from his talk:

“A move to the middle is under way in the debate over source code licensing. Traditional software companies are learning from the open source model while the open source community is seeking to commercialize their products. Microsoft has adopted the strategy of Shared Source in order to provide source code to governments, academics, corporations and individuals globally. This session will detail the Shared Source approach and the programs Microsoft is making available.”

There is no cost to attend the conference, and online registration is available. Sponsors include IBM, Oracle, Sun, and George Washington University.