Whitehouse.gov and OStatic Now Run On the Same Open Source Platform

by Sam Dean - Oct. 26, 2009Comments (2)

Slowly but surely, the Obama administration is showing the support for open source that officials have promised. Only a few days ago, there was a new appeal to the administration to show more support, made in a widely followed manifesto post from Andy Updegrove. Now, it's good news to see that Whitehouse.gov has relaunched  as a site based on the open source Drupal content management system (which OStatic is also based on).

"We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site," White House new media director Macon Phillips told The Associated Press. "This is state-of-the-art technology and the government is a participant in it."

As ZDNet's Dana Blankenhorn notes, the Whitehouse.gov site now features five separate blogs, and Drupal is a particularly flexible platform for blogging. I do agree with Blankenhorn, though, that because of the sheer number of hackers and malware purveyors that target sites like Whitehouse.gov, site administrators are going to have to be vigilant about security. Presumably Acquia, which provides commercial support for Drupal and was co-founded by Drupal founder Dries Buytaert, will assist with tracking and fixing hacks and bugs.

Rendering Whitehouse.gov itself as an open source-based site is a good move by the Obama administratoin. If the experiment proves successful, it could lead the way to more pervasive use of open source tools within the infrastructure of the U.S. government. If you're interested in Drupal as a platform for your own site, check our post on useful resources.


Browse Blog

Jesse Babson uses OStatic to support Open Source, ask and answer questions and stay informed. What about you?



2 Comments
 

What is called politics is comparatively something so superficial

and inhuman, that practically I have never fairly recognized that it

concerns me at all. The newspapers, I perceive, devote some of their

columns specially to politics or government without charge; and

this, one would say, is all that saves it; but as I love literature

and to some extent the truth also, I never read those columns at any

rate. I do not wish to blunt my sense of right so much. I have not got

to answer for having read a single President's Message. A strange

age of the world this, when empires, kingdoms, and republics come

a-begging to a private man's door, and utter their complaints at his

elbow! I cannot take up a newspaper but I find that some wretched

government or other, hard pushed and on its last legs, is

interceding with me, the reader, to vote for it- more importunate than

an Italian beggar; and if I have a mind to look at its certificate,

made, perchance, by some benevolent merchant's clerk, or the skipper

that brought it over, for it cannot speak a word of English itself,

I shall probably read of the eruption of some Vesuvius, or the

overflowing of some Po, true or forged, which brought it into this

condition. I do not hesitate, in such a case, to suggest work, or

the almshouse; or why not keep its castle in silence, as I do

commonly? The poor President, what with preserving his popularity

and doing his duty, is completely bewildered. The newspapers are the

ruling power. Any other government is reduced to a few marines at Fort

Independence. If a man neglects to read the Daily Times, government

will go down on its knees to him, for this is the only treason in

these days.


0 Votes

Beijing Tour

Beijing Tours

Tour In Beijing

Tours In Beijing

Travel In Beijing

Beijing Coach Tours

Beijing Bus Tour

Beijing Bus Tours

Beijing Coach Tour

Beijing Day Tours

Beijing Day Tour


0 Votes
Share Your Comments

If you are a member, to have your comment attributed to you. If you are not yet a member, Join OStatic and help the Open Source community by sharing your thoughts, answering user questions and providing reviews and alternatives for projects.