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George Osborne Commitment To Open Source Software Welcomed
Graham Taylor, Director of OpenForum Europe (OFE) welcomed Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's commitment, on behalf of the Conservative Party, to investigating open source software for use within Government. Mr Taylor said: “The issues that George Osborne highlights such as the increased cost through lack of choice which leaves users locked into expensive proprietary systems, the lack of compatibility between rival systems, and the huge potential that open source software offers for innovative and collaborative working within society, are subjects that we have been trying to discuss with Government for some time and there has been an unwillingness to engage. To see top-level politicians genuinely examining the cost and other benefits of open source in the UK, as we have seen in Europe for some time, is very welcome”.
At a lecture at the Royal Society of Arts this morning on the social impact of the web, Mr Osborne announced the appointment of Mark Thompson of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University to advise the Conservatives on how Britain can become the open source leader in Europe. Taylor stated: “This is a great pledge to make. Europe has been welcoming of open source, including sponsoring a portal (the Open Forum) which provides open source services, but in the UK, even the modest commitments of the Office of Government Commerce following their 2004 report have not been met. Instead we have witnessed a complete dependency on proprietary software, and resultant high costs for government projects.”.
Mr Osborne's speech focussed on the cost savings of open source, the way it provides innovative collaborative ways of working and the issue of compatibility between systems. He flagged up Bristol City Council's development which took place under the Open Source Academy, an OFE developed product to enable local authorities to switch to open source, and which now provides Certified Open, a product designed and administered by OFE to test software for compatibility with other systems. Taylor said: “Many of the answers that government is looking for, socially and economically, can be provided by the open source industry and we greatly look forward to helping politicians with vision to achieve them”.
