Leopard leaps to e-gov

An open-source software group has released the core component of a Web services platform for e-government projects.The first phase of Project Leopard lets end users set up a basic database and public Web interface on a back-end system running the Linux operating system.The platform is based on LAMP, an acronym for the combination of Linux, Apache Web Server, the MySQL open-source database and a scripting language—PHP, Perl or Python.The Open Source Software Institute, a nonprofit group in Oxford, Miss., started the project to serve state and local governments but now claims interest from federal agencies as well. Dallas consultant Tom Adelstein, an institute member, coordinates Project Leopard.Future phases will include a Web-based management interface for system administrators and wizards for making electronic forms. Project Leopard downloads are free, at .