have spoken with Members of Parliament and made submissions to the select committee involved. Use of free and open-source software in Government In August 2009 the Society announced the launch of the Public Sector Remix project to demonstrate the viability of free open-source software on public sector desktops. A number of central, regional and local government agencies worked together with the Society to run trials using free software for common desktop tasks. New Zealand Open Source Awards The inaugural New Zealand Open Source Awards were held in 2007, with the Society involved in both organisation and sponsorship. These awards now run bi-annually and serve to showcase the contributions of New Zealanders directly to open-source projects or the promotion of open source generally, as well as exemplary use of open source by New Zealand organisations. The Awards help to raise awareness of the open-source advantage for New Zealand by telling some powerful success stories based on real achievements. Then awards were held again in 2008 and have run biennially since then. The most recent awards were held at Te Papa Tongarewa on 23 October 2018. See also Software patents and free software References External links New Zealand Open Source Society website New Zealand Open Source Awards Open Source Society Free and open-source software organizations Political advocacy groups in New Zealand Organizations established in 2003