Two Cheers for the OGC
The UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) has produced a report that is very positive about free software and Linux in particular. But there is still plenty of politics in technology as this story from Silicon.com reveals that the final report was “sexed down” from an even more positive early draft.
But the conclusions of the report are still very quotable by those in favour of more free software use by Government -
A number of findings are contained in the Report including:
· Open Source Software is now a viable Desktop alternative for the majority of government users
· Interoperability is not now a major issue
· Open Source Software can generate significant savings, particularly in conjunction with Server consolidation and by delaying hardware replacement
· Potential ‘green’ benefits through the prolonging of hardware life, with less resources consumed in producing new hardware and less waste/disposal/landfill of old machines
· Decisions should be based on a holistic assessment of future needs, taking into account total cost of ownership, with proper consideration of both proprietary and open source solutions
Find the full text and lots of UK Government stuff on “open source” on the OGC website.
This should make us all more determined to see that “Software Patents” don’t derail the equal and some times better opportunities of FREE/OPEN software.
This report says nothing about the “Software Patents” issue, yet this should be of concern especially as the UK Gov wants to use it, maybe another question to be asked of the OGC to highlight the point and the E-Minister ?.
Rgds Gordon.
Apparently the NHS National Programme for IT did not read this report having allegedly just signed an agreement with Micro$oft for desktop software for £500M of taxpayers money. Great! Single vendor lock-in for the next decade…