U.S. Turning to Open Source? Obama Names Chopra CTO
Will Aneesh Paul Chopra, newly appointed U.S. Chief Technology Officer, promote open source? Time will tell. At least he has the support of some of his friends in the field.
President Obama has appointed Virginia's Secretary of Technology Aneesh Paul Chopra as national Chief Technology Officer (CTO), according to a White House announcement. Together with Chief Information Officer (CIO) Vivek Kundra, Chopra should leverage technology to reduce health care costs, raise his strategy for technology innovation in Virginia to the national level, and generally promote technology in the U.S. to create jobs and protect the homeland.
It will be interesting to see what plans Chopra has for Open Source. He is first and foremost a politician. While in the Virginia Cabinet, he was a particular advocate for health care reform in which open source played an increasingly important role. In a speech in January, he had advocated for an Open Government concept.
In any case Chopra has received encouragement after his appointment from friends in the open source community. Among them are Mitch Kapor, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Mozilla Foundation, who supported him on Twitter, and publisher Tim O'Reilly, who called him a "great choice" in his blog. Also testifying on the new man in the White House's behalf is Google CEO Eric Schmidt and Sun's Scott McNealy. But as is often the case, past all the promissory hoopla, we'll see if Obama's choice is ultimately a good one for free and open software.
Issue 270/2023
Buy this issue as a PDF
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
OpenMandriva Lx 23.03 Rolling Release is Now Available
OpenMandriva "ROME" is the latest point update for the rolling release Linux distribution and offers the latest updates for a number of important applications and tools.
-
CarbonOS: A New Linux Distro with a Focus on User Experience
CarbonOS is a brand new, built-from-scratch Linux distribution that uses the Gnome desktop and has a special feature that makes it appealing to all types of users.
-
Kubuntu Focus Announces XE Gen 2 Linux Laptop
Another Kubuntu-based laptop has arrived to be your next ultra-portable powerhouse with a Linux heart.
-
MNT Seeks Financial Backing for New Seven-Inch Linux Laptop
MNT Pocket Reform is a tiny laptop that is modular, upgradable, recyclable, reusable, and ships with Debian Linux.
-
Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds Flatpak Support Preinstalled
If you're looking for a version of Ubuntu that includes Flatpak support out of the box, there's one clear option.
-
Gnome 44 Release Candidate Now Available
The Gnome 44 release candidate has officially arrived and adds a few changes into the mix.
-
Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App Store
If the Flathub team has any say in the matter, their product will become the default tool for installing Linux apps in 2023.
-
Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
-
Planet Computers Launches ARM-based Linux Desktop PCs
The firm that originally released a line of mobile keyboards has taken a different direction and has developed a new line of out-of-the-box mini Linux desktop computers.
-
Ubuntu No Longer Shipping with Flatpak
In a move that probably won’t come as a shock to many, Ubuntu and all of its official spins will no longer ship with Flatpak installed.