What I understand 'Open Source' to mean

[David Bovill]

On 21 Nov 2005, at 21:38, Richard Gaskin wrote:

> But in terms of contracting with governments which require open  
> source software, I think that leaves us out even if our part of a  
> solution is open source since we, like Flash, Director, Toolbook,  
> and xCode developers, rely on proprietary components to get the job  
> done.

This is absolutely not the case as those of us engaged in such  
contracts and bids can testify - even Linus Torvalds uses proprietary  
tools in developing Linux kernel.

Government contracts do not require that all tools and code used is  
open source (I think this would not even be legal).  They do require  
a clear open source strategy - which Revolution is in a very good  
position to be a key part of - solving many of the issues that occur  
when the "open source zealots" try to deliver useful services to  
clients.