AU government launches open source content system

The Special Minister of State said the CMS -- launch of which was flagged last week at the release of a procurement paper entitled A Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies -- demonstrated the "viability of open source software solutions in the Australian government".

The CMS is fully documented and available for "no upfront cost" under the government's policy of 'whitebranding' software -- making it available to departments to save money on software licences.

Senator Abetz said the whitebranded CMS was based on the open-source MySource Matrix CMS. It was developed by the Department of Finance and Administration's Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO) and Australian software company squiz.net.

Senator Abetz said the new CMS shows how whitebranding can save on potential software licensing fees.

"The whitebranded MySource Matrix content management system is a robust and flexible software platform. It is a fine example of the potential of software re-use in government," said Abetz.

Senator Abetz announced the CMS came complete with documentation and a guide for organisations on how to use it for managing a Web site.

"Today I am releasing the supporting documentation published by the Department, which is a complete 'how to' guide for any agency or not-for-profit group interested in using this content management system for their Web sites," said Abetz.