Legalized drugs, now open source. Those crazy Dutch!

While some organizations continue to hide their open-source adoption, NOiV (Nederland Open in Verbinding), has published a map of over 200 open-source products currently in use by the Dutch central government as of mid-2009. (Translation here.)

Spoiler alert: there's a whole lot of open source being used by the Dutch government.

NOiV concludes in its study (PDF) that that Dutch central government is on the right track with open source for the operating system (platform) and middleware, but is in a very early phase of looking at business applications.

Open-source Networking Software Used by Dutch government

(Credit: NOiV)

The main obstacle for moving from closed to open source even faster than it has is the high cost of migration, something that afflicts middleware and applications more than it does operating systems, as Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst recently noted.

Lest you think this move to open source is inspired by a cloud of cannabis smoke, the report also mentions significant improvements in interoperability (31 percent), cost reduction (8 percent), and quality improvements in the municipal governments (22 percent).

If that's what open source delivers, pass the bong!

The adoption map shows a wide range of open-source technologies being adopted, but the big winners at present are Linux, MySQL, Nagios, OpenOffice (and associated ODF plug-in), Firefox, Apache (Web server), SSH, and Tomcat.

With Forrester suggesting that 2009 IT budgets will fall 10.6 percent in 2009, it's a good time to be looking at high-value, low-cost open-source software. Just like those crazy Dutch.

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

[Pete Bardo]

Hey Matt, Still think legalizing marijuana in the US is a nutty idea from a handful of people? Maybe those pot-smoking Dutch have a clue. Maybe if we give our leaders better pot to smoke we can come up with some good ideas, too.

[Matt Asay]

LOL. Well, I'm somewhat conservative on such issues, but I already think many of our leaders are smoking something unhealthy, if enjoyable.

[pentest]

Legalizing marijuana is the intelligent thing to do. Save billions of dollars, give farmers a money crop, stop pot related violence, create a huge new tax base, stop putting non-violent pot smokers in jail so we don't have to release rapists and pedophiles, help the environment(less tree cutting and it can be made into a great fuel additive), etc.

[linkux]

LOL:

"If that's what open source delivers, pass the bong! "

Hah!

[theopensourcerer]

Ahhhh

"If that's what open source delivers, pass the bong! "

That brings back some very fine memories (amazingly enough) from a largely miss-spent youth :-)

[sigzero]

I hope legalizing pot never happens in the US.

[pentest]

yeah, reducing crime, debt and improving the environment would suck.

Do you even know why it was made illegal?

Hint: corporate interests.

[tsi26]

I hope pot is legalized in the US.

[v.ap]

I find it very disappointing that your story revolves around stereotypes and irrelevant political issues. The debate here should be about the issues mentioned in your story and the lessons learned from the adoption of open-source policy. Instead, it's degenerated into something childish.

[motie35]

The article title is misleading. I thought I was going to read something about drugs(maybe their formulas) being open sourced by the Dutch. However, I am pleased they are increasing their use of open source software. But since sigzero brought it up, I will say I used to think it was a stupid idea to legalize marijuana in the United states, but I have recently changed my mind, because I thought about it logically instead of emotionally. I've never smoked it, and never would advocate smoking it. The US Government spends 10's of Billions of dollars in the war on drugs each year. If we legalized marijuana, Here's what would happen:
- A significant portion of that war on drug money would no longer need to be spent.
- Importation of marijuana would be reduced, and possibly cease, as US growers ramped up production. Eventually, we might end up exporting as much as we import, just as happens with tobacco now. This would result in untold billions of dollars remaining in the US economy.
- Government could regulate marijuana just as they regulate tobacco and alcohol now.
- Tax Revenue. This is a huge benefit. Now marijuana could pay for it's own regulation, and support the fight against other more insidious drugs.
- Just as Tobacco is now being revisited for uses other than smoking, such as medicinal, like growing proteins for vaccines, and food supplements, and for bio fuels, so could we increase research on alternative beneficial uses for marijuana.
- Reduction of incarceration costs and jail overcrowding as offenses regarding marijuana move from being mostly felonious to lesser offenses which are paid for via fines, which in turn produce revenue for the penal system.

[pentest]

Yup, maybe if people knew why it was made illegal, support for the legalization would increase.