Phil Windley points to a series of articles from Tom Adelstein on the use of open source software in state and local governments.

Adelstein is heading the Open Government Interoperability Project whose position statement says:

Aging infrastructure and legacy data processing systems have created a dilemma for communities in their attempt to meet the expectations of users. How do local governments meet these expectations with limited financial resources? Most localities face declining revenues and increased costs of providing services. Local governments struggle to maintain existing IT resources and have budgetary constraints if they wish to expand and/or upgrade infrastructure or systems.

One will find few communities with the financial resources necessary to meet its IT requirements. Two potential strategies exist that local governments can use to address these problems:

(1) less reliance on costly proprietary software by utilizing open source software where possible; and

(2) creating mechanisms to cooperate with other cities to share the cost of developing systems that address needs common to local governments.