%0 Journal Article %J Open Source Business Resource %D 2009 %T The Feds are Ready for a Change %A Mike Gifford %X Canada is at the tipping point for acceptance of open source. Open source software and culture has reached a critical mass in the business world and it is also being actively deployed within the Canadian government. While open source has contributed outstanding code, its impacts are even more profound, raising core values of participation, co-operation and standardization. However, like many large institutions, there has been reluctance to modernize its official position regarding this approach to software development. There is still considerable investment in existing procurement practice and thousands of jobs and billions of dollars are being invested in old information technology (IT) solutions. This article discusses the global momentum in federal government departments to support open source as well as some of the problems with the federal government's procurement process. However, despite the problems and relatively slow adoption of open source technology, there is movement for adoption. Federal government policies may be lagging behind other G7 governments, but it is being implemented across the civil service. There are also many people within government, at all levels, who understand the advantages of using open source. %B Open Source Business Resource %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %8 05/2009 %G eng %U http://timreview.ca/article/251 %N May 2009 %9 Articles %1 OpenConcept Mike Gifford is the founder and president of OpenConcept Consulting Inc., an open source web development shop specializing in non-profits, unions and government. He has led open source projects since 2000, is actively engaged in Ottawa's Drupal community, and is spearheading the accessibility initiatives within the latest version of Drupal. OpenConcept has a policy of ensuring that all their software development is licensed under the GPL 2.0.