Get the latest tech news
Funding Open Source like public infrastructure
To protect the digital foundation of essential government services, governments should invest in Open Source as public infrastructure and shift from consumption to contribution.
Contracts are typically awarded to the lowest bidder or to large, well-known IT vendors rather than those with deep Open Source expertise and a track record of contributing back. Switzerland recently embraced this approach at the federal level with its EMBAG law, which requires government-developed software to be published as Open Source unless third-party rights or security concerns prevent it. Fixing bugs, patching vulnerabilities, updating third-party dependencies, improving accessibility, and maintaining documentation rarely make headlines, but without them, innovation cannot stand on a stable base.
Or read this on Hacker News