Stories about: National Computer Center

Government officials the world over are getting drawn into the debate over the relative merits of using open source software rather than Microsoft Corp.'s Windows applications and other software developed by vendors who closely guard the intellectual property of their source code.

The Philippines' National Computer Center (NCC) is making headway in promoting the use of open source technologies in government agencies, despite the lack of a high-level policy to support such a direction.

A key author of the Philippines' E-Commerce Act of 2000 on Friday disputed a complaint by the nation's chief prosecutor that the law is inadequate to prosecute future suspects in cases like the dissemination in May of the ILOVEYOU virus.

Governments around the world are grappling with the steep challenges and enticing opportunities posed by the Internet. The Net's prospects include a new platform for commerce, a flood of information newly accessible to the public and a shift in the economic order from old to new industries.

After languishing for months, the Philippines e-commerce bill finally moved forward last month, winning approval on first reading in both houses of Congress.

The Philippine Computer Society (PCS) wants both houses of Congress to go ahead and approve an e-commerce bill that will give the green light to electronic transactions before trying to resolve complex legal issues.

The National Information Technology Plan for the 21st Century, otherwise known as IT21, is slowly but surely being realized, a key government official said last month.

The Philippines government last month restored the National Information Technology Council (NITC) as the head of the country's IT efforts, junking three controversial executive orders that gave that role to the National Computer Center (NCC). Executive Order (EO) No. 125, signed last month, reasserts the NITC's role as the government's highest planning and policy advisory body on IT matters. The new EO replaces EOs 34, 35 and 37, which many people in the IT industry opposed on the grounds that they concentrated too much power within the NCC. EO 125 clearly states, however, that the NCC will serve as the technical arm of the NITC. The move to repeal the three earlier EOs also lifted the anxiety among local computer vendors and service providers, who said the orders were deterrents to IT growth.