Sun’s McNealy: Some federal officials see open source as ‘anti-capitalist’
Sun Microsystems Inc. Chairman Scott McNealy wants President Barack Obama’s administration to do what the U.K., Denmark and other countries have done: encourage, as a matter of policy, open-source software adoption.
Although open-source platforms are widely used today in the federal government — particularly Linux and Sun’s own products, Solaris and Java — McNealy believes many government officials don’t understand it, fear it and even oppose it for ideological reasons.
McNealy cited an open-source development project that Sun worked on with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, during which a federal official said “that open source was anti-capitalist.” That sentiment, McNealy fears, is not unusual or isolated.
Sun’s McNealy: Some federal officials see open source as ‘anti-capitalist’
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