[Klug-general] Open Source Petition @ No 10 Website

[Peter Childs]

On 27/02/07, Adam Buckland <Adam.Buckland at eurohill.com> wrote:
> I've had a reply from this now with the Govt's position made "perfectly"
> clear!
>
>

And its actually a sensible position. Which is strange given that we
are talking about the government. Once again the main reason OSS can't
win the contracts in realility is because we don't have a sales team
so nobody to sell our often very different solution.

ie

Open Formats to avoid locking so we're talking fromats conforming to
ISO or ECC Standards not Proparaty formats where possible, ODT etc
etc.

OSS will be considered on a level playing field with propertry
software so long as any Porpertry software does not use propertry
formats to avoid lock in.

Sounds wonderful, Reality is some what different however.

Peter

>
> Government policy on Open Source Software (OSS) is available in the
> document "Open Source Software, Use within UK Government, Version 2.0,
> 28 October 2004". This is available from www.govtalk.gov.uk. The policy
> is set out on page 4 of the document. In particular the Government will:
>
>
> Consider OSS solutions alongside proprietary ones in IT procurements.
> Contracts will be awarded on a value for money basis;
> Only use products for interoperability that support open standards and
> specifications in all future IT developments;
> Seek to avoid lock-in to proprietary IT products and services; and
> Consider obtaining full rights to bespoke software code or
> customisations of commercial off the shelf (COTS) software it procures
> wherever this achieves best value for money.
> The UK Government champions open standards and interoperability through
> the e-government interoperability framework (e-gif). This framework is
> available from the 'govtalk' web site. The ability to substitute one
> component for another removes the dependency on a single supplier and
> encourages competition - an essential for Transformational Government.
> Many authors of software embrace open standards and interoperability but
> do not wish to make their source code freely available; they should not
> be penalised.
>
> Interoperability and open standards also support the sustainability of
> digital information beyond any single generation of technology. New
> techniques for digital preservation being developed by The National
> Archives require the periodic transformation of digital information to
> new formats as technology changes. Such transformations will be
> simplified by the adoption of open standards.
>
> Open interoperable standards, however, are not exclusive to OSS. A
> policy on digital preservation, which includes guidance on the selection
> of sustainable data formats based on open standards, is being formulated
> by the National Archives, and will help define the standards for desktop
> systems. See the National Archives technical registry 'PRONOM' at
> www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pronom
>
>
>
>
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