New Zealand Open Source Society
Encyclopedia
The New Zealand Open Source Society is an incorporated society
supporting the advocacy
and promotion of open source software in New Zealand
.
Peter Harrison then suggested that a national organisation be formed to promote and advocate use of open source software, via the New Zealand Linux Users Group. This led to several meetings throughout New Zealand in 2002 and 2003, and finally resulted in the NZOSS being formed as a formal incorporated society on the 27th of February 2003. Since this time the NZOSS has been involved with various efforts to promote open source in Government, including participation with the Ministry of Economic Development's Authentication Project, and later a report on the State Services Commission
guidelines on the legal issues of open source software.
The society has an active mailing list known as 'OpenChat', which is open to participation from anyone with an interest in F/OSS and the business of the Society. Membership of the society is required for voting rights, and helps sustain the Society, but is not required in order to be active in NZOSS discussions and activities.
file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML". The opposition was based on evidence cited by the United States Patent and Trademark Office who rejected the patent in the United States
. The NZOSS withdrew their opposition in August 2006 as a consequence of Microsoft
significantly amending the patent such that Abiword
would no longer constitute prior use or prior publication.
In 2009 the NZOSS made a submission to the Commerce Select Committee considering the Patent Bill before Parliament. The submission proposed that software be excluded from being patentable. The Commerce Select Committee agreed with the submission, excluding software from patents. Minister Simon Power has publicly stated that he supports the decision of the Commerce Select Committee.
(ACTA), and in proposed New Zealand Law changes around the handling of Copyright (notably Section 92A of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008. NZOSS have spoken with Members of Parliament and made submissions to the Select Committee involved.
The awards were also held in 2008 and again in 2010.
Incorporated society
in New Zealand an incorporated society is defined as being a group of at least 15 people who have applied for registration under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908....
supporting the advocacy
Advocacy
Advocacy is a political process by an individual or a large group which normally aims to influence public-policy and resource allocation decisions within political, economic, and social systems and institutions; it may be motivated from moral, ethical or faith principles or simply to protect an...
and promotion of open source software in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Formation
NZOSS was formed in February 2003, after David Lane wrote an open letter suggesting the use of open source software in Government in 2002, co-signed by over four hundred New ZealandersPeter Harrison then suggested that a national organisation be formed to promote and advocate use of open source software, via the New Zealand Linux Users Group. This led to several meetings throughout New Zealand in 2002 and 2003, and finally resulted in the NZOSS being formed as a formal incorporated society on the 27th of February 2003. Since this time the NZOSS has been involved with various efforts to promote open source in Government, including participation with the Ministry of Economic Development's Authentication Project, and later a report on the State Services Commission
State Services Commission
The State Services Commission , formerly the Public Service Commission, is a central government agency within the New Zealand government. The current State Services Commissioner is Iain Rennie...
guidelines on the legal issues of open source software.
The society has an active mailing list known as 'OpenChat', which is open to participation from anyone with an interest in F/OSS and the business of the Society. Membership of the society is required for voting rights, and helps sustain the Society, but is not required in order to be active in NZOSS discussions and activities.
Patent Action
In 2005 the NZOSS formally objected to a New Zealand Patent 525484, a patent for "Word-processing document stored in a single XMLXML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
file that may be manipulated by applications that understand XML". The opposition was based on evidence cited by the United States Patent and Trademark Office who rejected the patent in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The NZOSS withdrew their opposition in August 2006 as a consequence of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
significantly amending the patent such that Abiword
AbiWord
AbiWord is a free and open source software word processor. It was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite. Development stopped when SourceGear changed their focus to Internet appliances. AbiWord was adopted by some open source developers and AbiWord...
would no longer constitute prior use or prior publication.
In 2009 the NZOSS made a submission to the Commerce Select Committee considering the Patent Bill before Parliament. The submission proposed that software be excluded from being patentable. The Commerce Select Committee agreed with the submission, excluding software from patents. Minister Simon Power has publicly stated that he supports the decision of the Commerce Select Committee.
Copyright Legislation
During 2008 and 2009 the NZOSS and its members have been vocal in their opposition to the Anti Counterfeiting Trade AgreementAnti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement...
(ACTA), and in proposed New Zealand Law changes around the handling of Copyright (notably Section 92A of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008. NZOSS have spoken with Members of Parliament and made submissions to the Select Committee involved.
Use of Free and Open Source Software in Government
In August 2009 the Society announced the launch of the Public Sector Remix project to demonstrate the viability of free open source software on public sector desktops, with a number of central, regional and local government agencies working together with the Society to run trials using free software for common desktop tasks.New Zealand Open Source Awards
In 2007 the Inaugural New Zealand Open Source Awards were held, with the Society a involved in both organisation and sponsorship. These awards now run annually and serve to showcase the contributions of New Zealanders directly to open source projects or the promotion of open source generally, as well as exemplary use of open source by New Zealand organisations. The Awards help to raise awareness of the open source advantage for New Zealand by telling some powerful success stories based on real achievements.The awards were also held in 2008 and again in 2010.