Last month, the White House re-launched its figurehead web presence, WhiteHouse.gov featuring among other changes, a switch from a proprietary Content Management System (CMS) to Drupal, an open source CMS. The switch was brought on not by efforts to save money or use a more secure web publishing system, but to better foster communication between the White House and WhiteHouse.gov visitors, according to the Obama Administration.

Drupal is one of the big three open source CMS’s and has built-in functionality for everything from e-commerce to podcasting, and in particular, as the Obama Administration notes, Drupal integrates blogs, comments, polls, user profiles, newsletters, and forums. These are all things useful in encouraging communication between the Government and its citizens, or as Steele Agency notes, a brand and its potential consumer base.

At Steele Agency, we use open source CMS’s like Drupal, Joolma, and Wordpress to provide clients with the ability to easily manage and update their own web content and foster the interaction between staff and customers. Other federal agencies currently use Drupal for various purposes, including the Departments of Defense, Commerce, and Education and the General Service Administration, and the White House’s move only further validates the professional use of open source software. When talking to people about using open source in their businesses, they have concerns over costs, effectiveness, and security. When federal agencies employ its usage it does add a sense of authority, but from a business person’s perspective, its important to note three things:

• Open source software is very cost effective and has no licensing fees
• Open source CMS’s, when paired with Unix server platforms, are unparalleled in speed and reliability
• Though not all open source software is safe (just like proprietary software), Drupul is currently the undisputed security king among CMS platforms.

As the war of Operating System dominance wages on, Microsoft is taking a new approach to solidify itself as a premiere but-not-so innovative company. Their plan: blatantly copy Apple’s computer store experience and brand it as their own.

Before the end of October, Microsoft plans on opening two new Microsoft Stores in Scottsdale, Arizona and Mission Viejo, California alongside the release of Windows 7 due out Oct. 22nd, cnet reports. Why these locations? Well, apart from placement in high-end, high-traffic malls, these areas are already home to popular Apple Stores. And according to Todd Bishop of Techflash, the plans to intrude on Apple’s location space will not end there. With the recent hire of Apple’s former real estate head, George Blankenship, as a consultant we could see this trend occurring wherever an Apple store has already located itself.

But location duplication is only the beginning of the Microsoft strategy. As plans for Microsoft Stores progressed, Jim Dalrymple of the Loop reports that Microsoft has been approaching several Apple Store Managers about making the switch and coming to work for the new Microsoft Stores. Promising the potential Apple defectors with “significant raises” and even paying relocation costs (provided that the defectors bring with them more knowledge and fellow Apple employees). This is nothing new since Microsoft was apparently trying to lure iPhone developers to their company earlier this year according to Leander Kahney from the Cult of Mac.

With the new employees, the one piece of knowledge they will not need to provide is the Apple Store appearance; Microsoft already has the Apple Store layout down and isn’t going to change a thing. Well, except the job titles. The Stores will feature similar areas that include: different areas for Windows Mobile, Windows Media Center, Windows 7, and netbook; Regular demos and events; a special Microsoft shopping bang; and a “Guru” Bar (as compared to the Apple “Genius” Bar) where customers can get answers from Windows experts. The one addition Microsoft will also include is the hosting of birthday parties.

Though the store setup will be similar, the air in which things run will seem a bit different. Apple has taken great strides in promoting their stores as “more than just a retail store”. They refuse to allow employees to feel that retail is all they provide. With job titles like Concierge, Personal Shopping Specialist, and One to One Trainer, Apple empowers their employees and leads them to feel their jobs are about more than just selling a product. However, Microsoft has chosen to inflate this feeling as it simply and uncreatively includes “retail” in every job title available for hire.

So what’s the motivation behind all of this? It may better market share, but it could also be Microsoft trying to put to the test Steve Jobs’ fond saying: “good artists copy, great artists steal.” Hopefully, Steve Jobs and Apple will enjoy the flattery.