[open-government] Yes, Microsoft OGDI is open source

Fri Jul 22 16:43:05 UTC 2011

In my understanding, the definition of open source is typically used 
more autonomously so its usage applies just to the specific piece of 
code you're referring to and not all its dependencies as well. There are 
lots of open source projects built for Microsoft Windows or Amazon EC2, 
neither of which are open. If you took a purist stance on it, you'd be 
asking for everything to be open source including the BIOS on the server 
hosting the app.

In the case of OGDI, I think it's fair to say that the fact that it 
relies on so many propriety dependencies is a major limiting factor, but 
it doesn't mean it's not open source. The code is released under an open 
source license, that's what makes it open source.

Open source doesn't necessarily imply platform portability or 
modularity, though that's often the case. Unfortunately it doesn't seem 
to be the case for OGDI.

On the other hand, Windows platforms and .Net development skills are by 
far the most prevalelent skills and platforms for governments in North 
America. Governments shouldn't be forced to move everything to the more 
open Unix-centric environment just to gain the benefits of open source 
processes. Though ultimately this may help them see the benefits of the 
broader open source ecosystem which tends to be Unix-centric.

Phil

On 7/22/11 11:26 AM, Brian Gryth wrote:
> Rufus,
> You make good points.  Seeing that components of OGDI are open source 
> and others are not.  Would it be appropriate to break the questions 
> into component parts, ie API and hardware?  Or to ask a clarifying 
> question about whether components open, proprietary, or both? It would 
> seem more clear and dare I say transparent.
> Thanks
> Brian
> On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 4:31 AM, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org 
> <mailto:rufus.pollock at okfn.org>> wrote:
>
>     On 21 July 2011 00:05, Philip Ashlock <phil at openplans.org
>     <mailto:phil at openplans.org>> wrote:
>     > I was looking over the edit history for the Data Platforms
>     Survey (an open
>     > google doc) on the Data Platforms page of the wiki
>     > (http://wiki.civiccommons.org/Data_Platform) and noticed that
>     the Yes/No
>     > field for whether a project was open source had been changed
>     from Yes to No
>     > for Microsoft OGDI.
>     >
>     > I figured it was worth making a point to change that back and
>     comment on it
>     > as to dispel the assumption and stereotype. Microsoft OGDI (Open
>     Government
>     > Data Initiative) is in fact open source software released under the
>     > Microsoft Public License which is an OSI approved Open Source
>     License.
>     >
>     > http://ogdi.codeplex.com/
>     > http://www.opensource.org/licenses/MS-PL
>
>     The point I would make here is that while the API (and client software
>      on ogdi.codeplex.com <http://ogdi.codeplex.com/>) is open source
>     the underlying platform which
>     does all the heavy lifting and storage (as I understand it) is not
>     open source.
>
>     The question I would ask then is how functional is this platform
>     without the azure backend -- can you plug it into an open source
>     backend and have it function.
>
>     I think you are raising here an important question as to what makes a
>     'platform' open source. In my opinion, I don't think that an "open"
>     API and open source client implementations make something open source
>     (when most of the 'hard' work is in the backend). I think the test
>     here should be: are all the major (or even all) the components needed
>     to run this open source?
>
>     > I'm cross posting this to Civic Commons Discuss and the OKFN
>     Open Gov list
>     > because the culprit is on one and not the other. Not that I'm
>     going to name
>     > names, Rufus, ;)
>
>     I would stand by this assessment based on my present understanding of
>     how Azure and OGDI work. I'd of course be happy to stand corrected if
>     one can do a useful deployment of the open source components of the
>     OGDI framework without using Azure (and specifically Azure's db
>     storage layer which I understand is specialized to SQL Server).
>
>     > Not that I don't think CKAN is the leading open source player in
>     this space,
>     > I just want us to be respectful and acknowledge that there's
>     room for many
>     > in the ecosystem.
>
>     Just to be absolutely clear: I completely agree and believe there are
>     already other open source options in this ecosystem (e.g. the
>     dataverse system) and I think it is great that Microsoft are doing so
>     much here -- both on open data and on tools. However, based on my
>     understanding so far of how the OGDI 'platform' as one would
>     practically deploy it I do not think it is open source.
>
>     Regards,
>
>     Rufus
>
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>
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