From the ‘Uncle Sam Needs Penguins‘ files:
It seem to me like nearly every other week there is some kind of pronouncement or analysis of how to get more open source into the government.
It’s a topic that’s full of opinions and many have argued that the in the U.S. the new administration has fostered more openness than ever before.
It’s not enough though is it. As anyone that has every worked in sales knows, technology is only one part (and not always the biggest part) of the equation. I recently spoke with Michael Tiemann VP of Open Source Affairs at Red Hat and he gave me the most succinct answer to the problem that I’ve ever heard.
“The biggest challenge for open source adoption is the government procurement process,” Tiemann told me.