I missed the morning of the final day of the Open Source Conference at the University of Toronto, but I did get back in time to see the closing arguments and final keynote.
Joseph Potvin, Public Works, Government of Canada, pledged that the Canadian government was serious about standards, and committed to embracing the “full 
spectrum of software models”. He reasons that since the government is for the people, they should have a stake in running free/open software by the people. He also runs GOSLING, a community dedicated to promoting the use of OSS in government.
Two poetic descriptions of the open source community: “a wellspring of human spirit” and “a group consciousness”.
The panel concluded by saying that knowledge sharing is a sign of a heathy economy.
In the end, open source advocates agree on one thing: the FLOSS ideology appeals to the heart and also the mind. They feel there are