Novell Vice President John Dragoon has joined Scott McNealy in endorsing government adoption of open source software. In his column in Forbes, he writes,

...the U.S. government's cautious approach to open-source software is certainly about to change, driven by the vast amount of money at stake. Our government spends nearly $12 billion a year on software alone--a figure that covers just capital investments, not the ongoing maintenance and upgrade costs.

With the country in dire need of belt-tightening, this is an opportune time to invest in open source and pave the way for greater innovation while drastically lowering expenses.

There's little doubt that open source can replace many proprietary products effectively. Ubiquitous technologies such as server software that runs data centers, database applications, operating systems and productivity suites on desktops and laptops are especially good targets.