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Blog: Internet White House Embraces Open Source, Utilizes Drupal
Michael Barkoviak - November 2, 2009 7:40 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 15 comment(s) - last by MamiyaOtaru.. on Nov 12 at 2:56 PM
White House CMS switched over to Drupal

The Obama administration has been more willing than previous administrations to implement open source technology, as the new WhiteHouse.gov content management software (CMS) system has been switched over to the open source Drupal.

Open source is already used by the U.S. government throughout numerous websites and departments, according to tech guru Tim O-Reilly, but the White House using Drupal will only help further its adoption.  Furthermore, the U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra has been mingling with open source executives -- and future government open source adoption is expected.

After taking office, President Obama issued a request for proposal (RFP) so the WhiteHouse website could be updated depending on the technology available. Drupal, which operates under the GNU General Public License, can be used, modified, and redistributed by any engineer or user.

Although Drupal is available for free, the White House will call on IT engineers to maintain the site, as someone still must configure and maintain the website.  Since there are more than 500,000 websites utilizing Drupal -- including Nike, Yahoo and Warner Bros. -- it has proven to be a reliable program, which may help convince other companies and government administrators to give it a try.

Although the Linux operating systems and other open source software packages have gained marketshare among home users, open source has continually chipped away in the enterprise market as well.  The WhiteHouse switching to Drupal may help convince other departments in the federal government to begin working with open source on a broader scale, but no fast transitions to open source are expected.


Comments     Threshold


kudos for them
By kattanna on 11/2/2009 10:46:20 AM , Rating: 2
im using drupal here on a WAMP server and it works well.

im wondering though, with oracle buying up sun, what will happen to mysql.




By MustangMike on 11/3/2009 10:28:27 AM , Rating: 2
I couldn't help but just snicker at how the White house supports open source by using Drupal but yet is running GM into the ground. Lol

Yeah yeah I know that because they are using Drupal for the website doesn't mean it has any influences on current policy.




silverlight
By MamiyaOtaru on 11/12/2009 2:56:38 PM , Rating: 2
Is Obama going to stop streaming his speeches with Silverlight?




Not that much of a big deal...
By jonmcc33 on 11/2/2009 8:46:10 AM , Rating: 1
quote:
The WhiteHouse switching to Drupal may help convince other departments in the federal government to begin working with open source on a broader scale, but no fast transitions to open source are expected.


What? No, this is just a CMS for the website. It's not that big of a deal really and it certainly isn't spelling anything out for the entire government switching to open source software.




What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By Zephyr1899 on 11/2/09, Rating: -1
By Marlonsm on 11/2/2009 8:33:15 AM , Rating: 2
Ask for help in a forum, of course...

Actually, while it's open source, there will also be many professionals behind it.


RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By Bateluer on 11/2/09, Rating: -1
RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By jonmcc33 on 11/2/2009 8:48:28 AM , Rating: 2
quote:
Linux is perfectly capable of providing for all the needs of 75% of home and corporate users, and thats a conservative estimate.


Not when most in-house software is built to be used on Windows. Unless applications all start becoming web based...


By freeagle on 11/2/2009 8:58:13 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
Unless applications all start becoming web based...


Maybe Google Chrome OS then...? http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/07/introducing...


RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By Oregonian2 on 11/2/2009 9:00:25 AM , Rating: 2
Depends upon assumptions. If one assumes that all applications and required other programs used on the Windows platform are rewritten for Linux (those that aren't already on Linux), then his 75% Linux statement is probably true. Assuming also that users also don't object to the new UI and learning the unix style of self support (for those who are power users).

EU would still sue Microsoft for some reason though. Wouldn't stop that I suspect (not releasing the source code for Linux Microsoft office, etc).

:-)


RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By freeagle on 11/2/2009 2:48:08 PM , Rating: 2
You dont have to rewrite all the applications from windows. There are alternatives written for GNU/Linux that cover most( but not all!) of your day to day needs. The only real problem is the lack of games supporting Linux ( which I understand as long as the title uses DirectX ) and software developed by companies internally that is based on windows. And of course the HUGE number of different distributions to choose from. The newcommer has no idea what a "distribution" is, much less which one to choose.

The GUI is not that different, all the basic elements you're used to are there. And you dont have to be a "power user", unless you always buy the latest hardware, in which case you might run into driver issues ( which will get resolved in time )


RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By Oregonian2 on 11/4/2009 6:33:14 PM , Rating: 2
I know what you're saying but it's not as realistic as it sounds. One can't just go to to different applications that are "similar". That's like saying there would be no significant effect if Microsoft stopped selling their entire Office suite of product because there are other similar products (even free) available on Windows. There would be chaos.

I'm not talking about those users who would be buying games. I'm talking about commercial/business users from small to big that are using software where even changing versions of the same software can cause great havoc (gee.. my macro that was developed by a contractor doesn't work anymore...). Not to speak of training for those zillion users and of the IT departments that have to support them. Lots of software are add-ons, they'd all be broken as well.

Could things have been different? Sure, but to go there from here would be very very hard indeed (pragmatically) as a whole.

Any sort of change could incrementally occur if new users started with some Linux flavor and went from there (a lot of business uses, esp. servers, are already Linux), over time things could switch over, but it'd take quite a long time (and probably involve Windows emulation).

My comment about power users wasn't that one needs to be one, more that those who are power users would have a lot of learning to do to come up on a new system.

Note that I'm always a "power user" on whatever systems I'm using. Formerly heavy duty SunOS Unix on sun workstations (IT dept. allowed me to use sudo on most of the company servers, so I had a good level of trust on me as a user) but a windows user for quite a few years now (alas, economics of it..)


RE: What Happens when WhiteHouse.Gov goes down?
By mahax on 11/6/2009 11:30:08 AM , Rating: 2
The argument was that Linux (and open source in general) could provide for the 75% of the needs of home / corp. users. It has that capability whether or not people are willing to try it. Isn't the whole point that it "could" if it had to? If Windoze suddenly disappeared, people would be amazed in awe saying "gee, I never knew there was so much great software out here".

The reason almost everybody is using windoze is that it comes bundled with 100% of the pre-built (not including macs) computers. Have you ever tried to purchase a laptop without windoze? There's just one small merchant in Finland, who occasionally can get a batch of "fresh" laptops but most of the time they have to sell dual-boots. Often when someone is offering "fresh" laptops they actually just formatted one of the pre-windozed laptops. So in effect Bill is getting $$ for the linux (Solaris, BSD etc.) laptops as well.

Personally I think its about attitude, nothing else. It doesn't take a degree in engineering to use open source software (not any more) and there's a whole world of great software outside the windoze-town.


By Oregonian2 on 11/6/2009 5:41:24 PM , Rating: 2
I think most of the netbooks all come off-the-shelf in Linux editions. Still greatly outsold by Windows versions though.


By borowki2 on 11/2/2009 6:19:59 PM , Rating: 1
Why, you call the company that received the multi-million contract for managing the server, of course. Seriously, you really think this administration is out to save money by switching to open source?


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