Amid the many predictions for 2012 regarding Linux and open source software, including my own forecast of Linux domination, there is a larger, wider embrace of open source software taking place not only in the technology and other industries, not only in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and South America — but all over the globe in new corners and facets of our society.

We’ve already seen the ideas and fundamental principles of open source software applied in other industries and sectors, including automotive technology and infotainment, healthcare, and the space industry, where NASA recently launched a new site for its open source code and activities. Now, it appears 2012 may be marked by a further expansion of open source ideas and ideals into new areas. A few examples include pharmaceuticals and other biological sciences, politics and publishing.

Pharma and Life Sciences

In pharmaceuticals, the debate over open source research, results and data continues. There are also some interesting ventures, technology and tools in pharmaceuticals, such as an open source image-sharing effort in clinical research. In addition, the technology industry trend of devops, whereby application development comes together with application deployment and IT operations, is propelling movement into more mainstream enterprises and new verticals, including pharmaceuticals and biological sciences, according to a few key devops vendors.

Along with devops, there tends to be a lot of open source software, from Linux to open source programming and scripting to databases and data management. The presence of open source technology in pharma and life sciences may drive a greater propensity and acceptance for open source research and results as well.

Politics and Publishing

Politics is another area experiencing a growing presence and impact from open source software and ideas. Many of the central tenets of the Occupy movement parallel open source software, including transparency, openness and collaboration. “Occupy” has been