Senator Debra Bowen, chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee today announced a hearing by the committee to look at how private companies, as well as state and federal agencies, have begun using "open source software" and where it can or should be used in California's electoral system.

"Open source software has been around for several decades, but it's become more popular in recent years," said Bowen in a release. "Some of the more well-known names in the open source software world are Firefox (an Internet browser), Linux (an operating system), and Red Hat (which sells and supports a version of Linux for businesses).

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