Open source becomes political wedge issue

Last year, in Massachusetts, we saw open source being used as a political football. But the underlying issue in that case was technological, the state's adoption of ODF as a standard format.

Now, in England, we're again seeing open source being used by politicians. This time, however, it's entirely on behalf of politics.

The Conservative Party, which has its best chance of taking power in a decade, is now using the idea of open source as a wedge issue, a way to talk about its approach to governance using popular terms like "bottom-up" and "transparency."

Open source becomes political wedge issue.