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A fantastic program of presentations and panel sessions has been put together for this year's Open Computing in Government conference.

Program

Monday, April 18

8:00 - 9:00 Registration, tea and coffee.

9:00 - 9:05 Conference Welcome, AUUG.

9:05 - 9:15 Opening Address, John Grant, Acting Chief Information Officer, Australian Government Information Management Office.

9:15 - 9:45 Keynote Address, Senator The Hon Stephen Conroy, Deputy Leader of the ALP in the Senate, Shadow Minister for Information Technology.

9:45 - 10:30 Keynote Address, Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical.

10:30 - 11:00 Morning tea and coffee.

11:00 - 11:30 Keynote Address, Senator The Hon Eric Abetz, Special Minister of State.

11:30 - 12:00 Keynote Address, Changing the mindset: the NSW Open Source Linux contract. Dr Elizabeth Gordon-Werner, Manager Strategic Projects, Government Chief Information Office, NSW Department of Commerce

12:00 - 12:45 Open Source Here and Around the World. Brendan Scott, Open Source Law.

12:45 - 13:45 Lunch, provided in the Manning Clark foyer.

13:45 - 14:15 Panel Session: Open Source Businesses and Government. If the code is freely available, what business model works when dealing with government? Do your departmental procurement guidelines cover the world of open source? Can both business and government win from open source procurement?

14:15 - 15:00 Open Source in Government - The Pragmatic Choice. Kevin Russell, DOIR, Western Australia.

15:00 - 15:30 Afternoon tea and coffee.

15:30 - 16:15 'Interoperability,' not 'Interchangeability'. Greg Stone, Microsoft Australia.

16:15 - 17:00 The road to Linux. Paul Kangro, Novell.

18:00 - 20:00 Conference Cocktail Reception - Blake Dawson Waldon, 12 Moore St, Canberra.

Tuesday, April 19

8:30 - 9:00 Registration, tea and coffee.

9:00 - 9:45 Implementing Open Source in Government. Brendan Scott, Open Source Law.

9:45 - 10:30 Keynote Address, Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies, Patrick Callioni, Australian Government Information Management Office.

10:30 - 11:00 Morning tea and coffee.

11:00 - 11:45 Building a web server? Use Apache! Building a File Server? Use Samba! Now what do we do? Stephen McInerney, HealthInsite.

11:45 - 12:30 Keynote Address: Volante.

12:30 - 13:30 Lunch, provided in the Manning Clark foyer.

13:30 - 14:15 Framework for assessment of Open Source Projects in Government. Ian Oi, Blake Dawson Waldron.

14:15 - 14:45 Panel Session: The legal roadmap for Open Source in Government. GPL, LGPL, Berkeley and other licencing, copyrights, the US FTA, and more. What does it mean for your open source project?

14:45 - 15:15 Afternoon tea and coffee.

15:15 - 16:00 Delivering Open Source to Government. Avi Miller, Squiz.net

16:00 - 16:45 Comparitive ICT Policies - Australia, Brazil, China and More. Pia Smith, Linux Australia.

16:45 - 17:00 Conference wrap up and close of proceedings, AUUG.

Presentation Abstracts

Implementing Open Source in Government. Brendan Scott, Open Source Law.

In this talk we summarise some of the practical problems encountered by Government when making an open source investment, either as a supplier or acquirer. Topics to be covered include:

legal issues, practical risks and approaches to risk management;
why internal policies are important and some relevant considerations;
governance issues for open source projects;
commercialisation models for open source;
maintaining consistency with Government IP commercialisation policies;
other things to consider.

Open Source in Government - The Pragmatic Choice. Kevin Russell, DOIR, Western Australia.

The annual turnover of the ICT Industry in Australia is worth several billion dollars but the balance of trade in the same industry has a 300% + skew in the wrong direction. Australia's total ICT export for 2002-2003 was worth $5.3 billion while the ICT import cost $19.7 billion. Australian Governments (Federal, State and Local) are a major ICT consumer and can positively impact on the balance of trade. Open Source Software in recent years has had many companies and government agencies around the world rethinking their software needs - why shouldn't we!!!

The presentation will outline the economic, social and political reasons that enhance the technical reasons why Open Source Software is a pragmatic business choice. The unbiased information will provide a solid foundation for a robust business case.

Delivering Open-Source to Government. Avi Miller, Squiz.net.

Update presentation abstract to be available shortly.

Building a web server? Use Apache! Building a File Server? Use Samba! Now what do we do? Stephen McInerney, HealthInsite.

This talk aims to fill in the "what next?" gaps.

HealthInsite isn't just a great Health Information Gateway; it's a complete system all geared around keeping that Web Site going in all sorts of Internet weather. Once you get Apache up and running you need to ensure it stays that way. Consequently, we use Open Source Software extensively to maintain and run the complete HealthInsite System: Content synchronisation! Backups! System Monitoring! Statistics! Email! Discussion Lists! Configuration Management!

All this and more is all done for HealthInsite in Open Source Software. Let us show you how.

Open Source Here and Around the World. Brendan Scott, Open Source Law.

Prior to the last Federal Election we conducted a survey of Federal parties and their policy positions on open source and open standards on behalf of Open Source Industry Australia Limited. In this session we set out our findings and review significant implementations and policy initiatives for open source and open standards in Government around the world. In addition we make some comments on the likely impact of the Free Trade Agreement on open source within Australia.

'Interoperability,' not 'Interchangeability'. Greg Stone, Microsoft.

In today’s highly dynamic information technology (IT) marketplace, businesses and other organizations routinely deploy heterogeneous IT networks consisting of hardware and software from multiple vendors. In such an environment, interoperability is a technical and business imperative. It is also a desired goal for government in the context of both public policy (promotion of a healthy, competitive, and innovative IT-ecosystem) and in the government software procurement process (government as IT-consumer).

But what is 'interoperability'? How should it properly be defined? In this paper we outline the arguments for industry’s development and support of Open Standards positing that 'Interoperability' must be distinguished from the concept of 'interchangeability' or 'cloning.' We begin by clarifying the usage of terms such as 'Product Standards', 'De Jure Standards' 'Proprietary Standards' and 'De Facto' standards and the role each plays within the standards ecosystem. We also outline why a market-driven approach to achieving interoperability makes the most sense and what part Microsoft has, and will continue to play, within this context.

Comparitive ICT Policies - Australia, Brazil, China and More. Pia Smith, Linux Australia.

Open Source has been used in many countries for some time, with some Governments building their entire strategy around Open Source. This in itself is a fascinating step, and well worth investigating. Many of these countries are looking to turn around what is currently an ICT import economy around to an ICT export economy. Australia is largely an ICT importer, and with a large proportion of our deficit being ICT related, it makes sense that we start looking at and learning from some of the lessons of these countries. The sooner Australia takes control of its ICT strategy, and realises the incredible local resources available to it, the better equipped it will be to make the best use of taxpayer dollars while generating the best possible set of broader positive consequences, such as local opportunities for individuals and businesses, better education and resources and much more.