All of Iceland's public administrations moving towards open source | Hacker News Reader

All of Iceland's public administrations moving towards open source

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194 pointsrbanffy26 comments

Here's the link to the actual Government policy: http://eng.forsaetisraduneyti.is/media/English/Free_and_Open...

I think the PDF provides more information as to why they are doing this as opposed to the HN link which just stated that "we're moving to Open Source" without explaining the "why".

This point regarding education is interesting:

free and open-source software provides teaching opportunities that do not exist with proprietary software, since the background functions of free and open-source software, including its characteristics and programming, can be revealed to students. In these respects, free and open-source software is better suited to arousing interest in computer programming and information technology than proprietary software, where its use is all that can be taught.

The other points from the report:

1. When purchasing new software, free and open-source software and proprietary software are to be considered on an equal footing, with the object of always selecting the most favourable purchase.

2. Every endeavour shall be made to choose software based on open standards, regardless of whether the software in question is standard or bespoke (custom-designed). Generally, software which is free for anyone to use is also typified by open standards.

3. Public bodies shall endeavour to avoid any undue dependence on particular software manufacturers or service providers. The utilisation of free and open-source software is one means of this.

4. One goal for bespoke (custom-designed) software financed by public bodies, including software for research and development projects, should be its reusability. Keeping the software free and open-source is one way to achieve reusability. Strategies shall be devised at the outset of such projects for ensuring reuse of the software.

5. Students in Icelandic educational institutions shall be given the opportunity of learning about and using free and open-source software on a par with proprietary software

Iceland seems to be doing a lot of things right lately: declaring bankruptcy instead of bailing out the banks, ensuring Internet freedom, allowing feedback from their own citizens on their laws/Constitution, and now moving the public administrations to open source.

If only more countries took them as a role model.

I'm Icelandic, and although I love my country... I am wary of the spin put on some of these things. A lot of the events that followed the crash were pure luck or even incompetence - I suspect the government would have liked to prop up the banks, but just failed to do so. :-)

But these moves towards Free Software are on the other hand genuine, as are a lot of the grass-roots efforts (I know many of the people involved personally and have helped out with a couple of related projects).

These changes are also very fragile still, it's early days and one wonders what would happen if Microsoft decided this was P.R. problem and decided to throw money at trying to make "the problem" go away.

As I understand it they wanted to save the banks but then the gov changed and the new guys didn't want to.

Hey all, I'm currently living in iceland and was asked by the fsfi here (icelandic fsf equivalent) to point ppl to the newer announcement at http://www.ut.is/media/utvefur/adgerdaaaetlun_fyrir_innleidi... . Also we're holding the Reykjavik Digital Freedom Conference (www.rdfc.is) at the end of the month if you're looking for an excuse to visit. We'd love to meet you.

Clickable: http://rdfc.is/

I almost immigrated to Iceland when I was young, somewhere around 19, I was living out in New Orleans and looking for something else. I ended up coming back home to Florida but a buddy and I where literally hours away from going when we decided to take a different path. I always thought about what would be if I had, as it was the only time I thought about tying to become a citizen of a different nation, with what Iceland has been doing with their government since the economic collapse I have thought about it more and more. I really like the way they are heading and think it will be a great place to live with all the changes they are making. If I where a younger man making the same decision now, I probably would have made the trip as I think there efforts to clean up their government and financial institutions will reward them for years to come.

The way you write, it's not entirely clear whether you actually went there or not. Moving someplace you've never been is generally not a good idea if you can help it. According to wikipedia, the highest recorded temperature, ever, was 30.5 C. That would just not cut it for me.

86.9F isn't hot enough for you? Also, other warm locales are just a short flight away.

30C is a pretty average summer day where I live in Italy. There, it's a very rare event.

> Also, other warm locales are just a short flight away.

It's not like they can air-freight in the warm though - you're stuck in someplace cold except for brief trips. Fine for some people, but something to experience before committing to it.

On the plus side, warm water is virtually free in Iceland, even when it is freezing outside. Because of that, there are quite a few outdoor baths, such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Lagoon_(geothermal_spa)

Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of wonderful things in Iceland, just that someplace that cold is not my cup of tea. It could well be the perfect place for others though.

Just don't forget a geothermal source is nothing but a very tame volcano. ;-)

An all-time high of 87F doesn't cut it for you? For me, a place that never reaches the 90s is near-paradise. Also, Icelanders tend to be educated and friendly; I spent over a week in Reykjavik in February 2010 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. After that trip, it made the list of places I'd consider moving to and this article just makes it more attractive to me.

Disclaimer: I'm originally from Canada, so I didn't find their winter all that daunting.

Moving someplace you've never been is generally not a good idea if you can help it

I have more bad ideas than good, of that I am sure, but whether bad or good they are always an adventure. You would have to know me on a personal level to understand that I am a guy that lives a minute away from making a decision that fundamentally changes my life. I may choose to move to China tomorrow and by the end of the week I will be these. It's just the way I am, that being said, I am a little more settled now, as I am married and have children and I have to contain my nature. But I will say, in all my life, I have never regretted the times I packed my bags in the middle of the night and fundamentally changing my life, by the time the sun shined. I have however regretted the choices that I thought about and never made, as I am left with the wonder lust of what could have been.

I understand picking up and moving all too well, but citizenship is a Long Term kind of deal.

It's ok in the summer. I mean you get good enough sunny days, not too hot, not to cold. Winter is a bigger issue... definitely not what I expected. It actually puts people in hospitals due to drinking and mental issues. Two exchange students I knew had to go back home around November because they couldn't handle it.

I was really happy I left at the end of December and was aware I couldn't handle it much longer. It's amazing what the lack of sunlight does to you.

Think about what happens when every reasonable person leaves a country. Then remember the country still has nukes, ICBMs and a prodigious military force.

Not a good idea. I can't fix it (I don't even live in the US), but maybe you can help.

I am sorry if I implied that I was considering leaving the US because I was disgruntled with the US, that was not my intention, while I do have grievances with some of our policies it was not a factor nor would it be a factor in my consideration. Rather Iceland has always held a fascination for me and given their recent changes it is even more of a draw.

I think it's interesting and good that Iceland is doing this. But the first thing I wonder is how many people does it affect?

Some perspective:

Iceland's population is about 320,000.

Iceland has 103,000 square kilometers, roughly the size of Kentucky, or a bit less than a third the size of Germany.

Their GDP is about $12 billion (per capita $36,000). The smallest GDP among US states is Vermont at $26.4B (but then Vermont has about twice the number of people). A bit less than Jamaica (though Jamaica has 2.8 million people).

[For what it's worth, I'm descended from Icelanders and have twice visited there. I love it.]

My underbelly feeling says that this isn't very unique, nor novel (still good, though!)

Admittedly I don't know the details, but I'm pretty sure that in the Netherlands a large amount of government levels have guidelines in place that state that 'if quality is equal, the open-source alternative must be chosen'.

Companies such as Zarafa (open-source alternative to MS Exchange) have been able to grow and sustain themselves in their early years much thanks to these guidelines.

I have this new HP dm1 laptop running Linux (Ubuntu). It was really eye-opening when my wife said "I will never use Windows again!". The thing is I didn't evangelize about Linux at all. I just said: "This is the OS we'll use for such and such reasons". She loved it after a while. The problem with suspend/resume, right-click not working, and the computer getting slower after a while is a bit of a nuisance though...

This also has ramifications for government inner workings, if carried right. Imagine if this extends to pretty much all branches of government, and you can actually inspect all the code. It cannot get more open than that.

makes sense

I have found that open source software is often far better in quality than other products that you would pay big dollars to buy. I am an Ubuntu user and an Open Office user. I found the way that the way my computer ran with a Windows operating system was horrible. The hard-drives were spinning hard all the time. I felt that with every automatic update that my computer would run worse and worse. When I switched my computers ran better and cooler.

Open Office has been a staple for me and has been great office software that I use daily. VYM mind maps have been a blessing to me as well and very frequently use it. Moodle was something I used while in business school as some of the professors on campus required using it for submitting projects and for working with a group.

Open source software and Apple products are really all I use anymore. Also, I would rather use a server running on Ubuntu than one that runs Windows. My feeling is that free and open innovation is something worth supporting.

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