White House Uses Open Source To Open Government

The White House Web site now runs on open source. Over the weekend, Whitehouse.gov moved to a software stack that includes the open source Drupal content management system and Apache Solr search server.

One of the main reasons for the change was to build more collaboration features into WhiteHouse.gov, according to the Obama administration. In addition to providing content management, Drupal supports blogs, comments, polls, and the ability to create user profiles.

"We wanted to improve the tools used by thousands of people who come to Whitehouse.gov to engage with White House officials, and each other, in meaningful ways," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in an e-mail. "We now have a technology platform to get more and more voices on the site. This is state-of-the-art technology, and the government is a participant in it."

Drupal creator Dries Buytaert said cost cutting and flexibility also factored into the switch in platforms. Buytaert is co-founder and CTO of commercial open source software company Acquia, which helped in development of the site.

"It's a great fit because they want to reduce costs and be able to act quickly, and Drupal provides them the modularity to do so," Buytaert said in an interview. "Drupal gives them a traditional content management system combined with social features, which enables open communication and participation, which aligns very well with the goals of the Obama administration."