When people talk about open source and government in the same sentence, it is most often about legislations, regulations and some kind of complaint along these lines. Some governments are still learning about the concept, while others decided to just jump right in.

In this My Open Source Experience podcast episode Federico Gonzalez Waite talks about his years working for the Mexican government, which included introducing open source technologies and growing the adoption of open source both within government agencies, as well as around the country.

Federico highlights some of the learnings and milestones of his journey:

- Open source isn't just for engineers

- A contract with a vendor should never keep you from exploring other options, including open source

- Legislations can be in favor of open source as opposed to limiting it

- Open source software and commercial solutions can co-exist, you don't have to choose one or the other

- How to approach cost calculations when considering to adopt open source, and don't be surprised when the numbers come out much cheaper

- Challenges with introducing new solutions, open source or not, are usually not about technology but the people, and change management

- Vendors who are deeply embedded into a customer's systems can start controling technology choices and solutions, not always in the customer's favor. Government agancies are no exception

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