Library of Congress Explores Ways To Release OS Software 40
An anonymous reader writes "The Library of Congress has established an internal process to start creating more open source software which will make it easier for software developers and sponsors within the Library to produce software that can be freely redistributed to users worldwide. The Library has released some open source software to this point, concentrating on developing tools that support digital preservation processes, including the secure transfer of digital files. This includes the release of a full suite of digital content transfer tools that support the Bagit specification."
So.... (Score:5, Informative)
Didn't RTFA, did you?
BTW, They're designating the software created by staff as Public Domain in the comments, but in repositories that don't offer that category using the least restrictive category they provide, typically BSD.
Publications of the US Government are typically in the public domain.
I, for one, welcome our new code-sharing librarian overlords. For the most part code writ at taxpayer expence should be made available if possible so the taxpayers can use it for themselves - and other government agencies can as well without duplicating effort and expense.
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So.... they can still use sourceforge.
Specially because sf.net is limited by the US laws concerning exporting software to certain countries.
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I agree with you but with one exception. US taxpayers shouldn't be funding software development in other countries. Although Software produced by the US government should be public domain inside the US I don't support the idea that it should be so outside the US. I would support treaties that allowed sharing of government produced software between countries as long as it's an equal arrangement and I would support code being GPL as that would force foreign entities to share (at least in theory).
Personally I
Third world aid (Score:1)
Considering the negative effects of varous forms of Foreign [census.gov] aid [census.gov] on the recipients and the prevalence of skimming by graft, it wouldn't bother me if the US goverment hired some foreign codemonkeys instead. It's better for them and better for us.
The problem with your plan is that if a foreign corp contractor contracts to write code for the Navy, another foreign corp can't use that code for the CIA because they don't have the right to publish it Public Domain so they can't use it. Look - it's not the crown
Military Coders (Score:2)
I am a coder, I run a development team, and I work for the U.S. Government in the DOD. All code I create is the property of the U.S. Government and can be used by all other military branches. We have our own Forge. And, while technically, it is PD...
Nanani boo boo, you can't see it.
Seriously, though, there is a process for vetting this stuff and making it available, but no one in government is motivated to review it for release. And even though most of the code (99.9%) is mundane, it will never see the ligh
here's what i think of their internal proces ... (Score:2)
bag it [thefreedictionary.com] Slang
1. To cease discussion of an issue: Finally in disgust I told my debating opponent to bag it.
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By a few of the entries, looks like they do. Though more accurately, people are creating OS projects based on LoC standards.
Sourceforge.net [sourceforge.net]
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Why can't they just use source forge like everybody else?
You mean http://sourceforge.net/projects/loc-xferutils [sourceforge.net].
The perfect unit! (Score:2)
How many Libraries Of Congress... (Score:2, Funny)
How many Libraries Of Congress will the source code amount to?
Or is it easier to measure it in VW Bugs? Football field lengths?
I'm confused.
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~Wikipedia
I wouldn't consider at least 5 $150 hard disk drives exactly cheap...
Re:How many Libraries Of Congress... (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm not willing to trust Google Book's OCR efforts just yet. Good for building a fulltext index, perhaps, but definitely not good enough to ditch the high resolution scans. Besides, many of the more interesting, and rare specimens to be found at LoC have footnotes, typographical oddities, diagrams, and plates that defy conversion into Unitext-- to say nothing of Ascii.
Re:How many Libraries Of Congress... (Score:5, Insightful)
How many Libraries Of Congress will the source code amount to?
One, by definition. This is going to be quite useful.
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How many Libraries Of Congress will the source code amount to?
It depends. Are we talking a metric LoC or an imperial LoC?
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I thought those came in pints.
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So what happens if... (Score:5, Insightful)
I think this is great news, but what happens if inadvertently some of this software infringes on a patent or two?
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You see, Oliver...
In this life, one thing counts
In the bank, large amounts
I'm afraid these don't grow on trees,
You've got to infringe a patent or two
You've got to infringe a patent or two, boys,
You've got to infringe a patent or two.
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The same thing that happens when any other open source infringes on a patent. Absolutely nothing unless or until the patent owner decides to sue somebody. There is no hole ripped in the space-time continuum, nobody is going to get arrested, nothing will self-destruct.
BTW--The Library of Congress != USPTO. Copyrights are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and copies of the works are stor
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Same as every other software that infringes on a patent or two? Some patent troll gets richer but hopefully some politician cares enough about the library of congress to do something about it. At least the odds are better than going after companies or individual contributors.
Re:So what happens if... (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe somebody with pull will finally realize how stupid software patents are and get them abolished?
U.S. copyright office requires IE 6 (Score:2, Informative)
I find it ironic in a sad shoot myself in the head sort of way that the copyright.gov requires IE 6 and does not work with the firefox. I was trying to copyright some material today ( graphic art not software), and was finally forced to run windows xp using vbox with windows 6 on linux to be able to upload the images.
Kick Silverlight To The Curb First, Start Fresh! (Score:1, Interesting)
Perhaps they could start by consulting someone like RMS and Linus rather than involving themselves with Microsoft and proprietary software:
"Taxation without web presentation
The Library of Congress recently signed a deal to accept 3 million dollars worth of "technology, services and funding" from Microsoft towards building a new website powered by Microsoft's Silverlight plug-in."
"Most disturbingly, users are locked in, too: anybody using an iPhone, an old version of Windows, any version of Linux, or any oth
Over the top a little bit (Score:1)