[ILUG] Re: FLOSS in Irish National ICT Policy and in R & D

[Andrew Clarke]

Hi,

Recent moves by the UK Government are very strong on the adoption of 
Open Source and Open Standards. Whilst there are still issues about how 
much will really happen, this is an extremely positive step.

http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/cio/transformational_government/open_source.aspx
http://www.netvibes.com/cabinetoffice#Open_Source

Given the current economic position and the fabled goal of a "knowledge 
/ information society", this would make even more sense for Ireland, but 
apart from the Green Party, there is simply very little will to allow it 
to happen.

The real changes happening in public sector technology are powerful and 
flexible working solutions being deployed using Open Source technology. 
This is currently the only way that FOSS can be strongly promoted 
without any official policy position.

The transparency of process and interoperability of FOSS could bring 
immense advantages to the public sector through a wide adoption, but at 
the moment it is individuals who are pushing this and with no safety 
net. If decision makers were made justify the purchase of proprietary 
software where a real open source option is available things would be a 
little different. In any other arena, they would have to.

There is a mentality shift needed too. Requests are often made for 
particular products rather than generic solutions or functionality. 
People talk about Powerpoint presentations instead of presentations, ask 
for a SharePoint server instead of a document management system. I think 
I'll go for a Nescafe Break.



Andrew Clarke