By Paul Krill
InfoWorld (US

SAN FRANCISCO- Red Hat’s CEO, in a blog post on Monday, is endorsing the Obama Administration’s call for openness and participation in government by likening the President’s statement to the open source software movement.

Linking to a White House statement in which President Obama calls for transparency, participation, and collaboration in government, Red Hat president/CEO Jim Whitehurst said open source provides an answer to calls for transparency and participation.

“Red Hat is excited that the Obama administration recognizes the value of open source beyond software. Open source principles are changing how we learn, how we share information, how developers create, and how companies do business. Now it has the opportunity to change our government,” Whitehurst said.

“Open source can provide an effective way for government to cut costs and ensure open access to information,” Whitehurst said. “Lowering the costs of infrastructure will help provide resources for our government to focus on finding solutions to the challenges that lie ahead.”

[ See also: "Red Hat CEO questions desktop's relevance in Linux debate." ]

Linux and open source have brought choice and savings in the private sector, and some governments have adopted open source as an alternative to “expensive, proprietary technology,” said Whitehurst.

“Open source has already saved the federal government a substantial amount of money and can provide an opportunity to save millions more,” said Whitehurst, who also endorsed Open Document Format.

“We believe that the Obama Administration has an unprecedented opportunity to use open source to spark innovation and positive change. It won’t happen overnight, but all levels of government can make it happen if they work collaboratively and follow Obama’s rallying cry, ‘Yes, we can,’ ” Whitehurst said.

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