Boy Scouts Open Source Initiative

Cool. The BSA's Information Systems Division is getting a little pub.

June 9, 2008 (Computerworld) Scouts honor — the 98-year-old Boy Scouts of America (BSA) organization is adopting open-source software as a path to building better software to support the almost 3 million scouts and 1.1 million adults who make up the group.

Faced with the need for a streamlined, organized way for its more than 121,000 local scout troops to find and use software for fundraisers, event registration, facilities maintenance and more, the Irving, Texas-based BSA last month launched a Web site to begin its BSA Open Source Initiative.

So far, the group has done little to publicize the site, which has nary a post on it. But that could change as the BSA gets the word out and as the open-source community finds out what's being done.

The site is envisioned as a place for scouting leaders to go when they need an application for their troop events or when they want to help other troops with their software projects, said Dan Nelson, director of application services for the BSA information systems division. The idea emerged last year when BSA officials met with a group of corporate CIOs who suggested open-source software as a potentially valuable resource for the organization, he said.

Of course Computerworld felt it was necessary to quote some jerk that characterized Scouts as a paramilitary organization. Oh, please.