Government's responses to open source

Government Departments taking on open source software has long been seen a great way to encourage and foster development in the local ‘indigenous’ IT industry (Kelly, 2008). Despite strong support for open source by all of the major parties in the lead up to the 2007 Federal election, (ITNews, 2007) few government departments have started using the software, which can be supported and serviced by locals who are not officially affiliated with the original designer of the product.

The Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies - April 18, 2005, is a very thorough exploration of the potential uses and threats of open source software being used in Government departments. The document contains this list of current open source software being used:

Arjen Lentz, director of Open Source Industry Australia Limited (OSIA) says, “open source software in government procurement is an essential building block for Australia’s future ICT Industry” (qtd in ITNews, 2007). However, Government Departments still have concerns regarding the support, and the security of using open source software (Tung and Kotadia, 2008) as well as questions around the difficulty of making open source and Microsoft products interact and coexist (Tung, 2008).

Around the world, varying approaches have been made to Governmental uptake of open source software. Malaysia approached the idea with much enthusiasm, but like in other countries, the enthusiasm has since waned (Tung, 2008). Other countries such as South Africa and China are taking large steps to embrace open source technology also (Kelly, 2008). In China, Microsoft and Novell have come together to “build a bridge between Microsoft’s proprietary software and Novell programs based on the Linux operating system” (AFP, 2008). The seemingly unusual alliance was formed to meet the needs of clients looking to use Microsoft products in “heterogeneous environments” (AFP, 2008).

The Brazilian Government’s adoption of open source has largely been regarded as market leading, and it has been suggested they could be saving around 120 million dollars a year by using alternatives to Microsoft (Kingstone, 2005). There are several reasons behind Brazil’s strong support for open source:

• Microsoft products have traditionally been much more expensive (as a proportion of average income) in Brazil than in other countries (Assay, 2008).
• Brazil has a lasting disdain for American products, and will look to benefit their local industry ahead of American companies (Kingstone, 2005).
• There are also questions around the alleged corruption involved in the use of open source software and its servicing by local industry in Brazil (Byfield, 2007).

Given that the IT industry lends itself to outsourcing, the stimulus to local industry that Governmental adoption of open source technology promises, might not be so great. Regardless of the system used, companies will need some truly local support, but for serious issues of programming to fix system bugs or improve functionality, the work can still be done overseas.


References:

AFP. 2008. Microfost-Novell take open-source alliance to China. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gCel5kFFvQfjpeAjpI9jRoT5cfNQ(accessed May 4, 2008).

Asay, M. 2008. Microsoft gouging Brazilians for 20 percent of income. Cnet. http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9934964-16.html(accessed May 4, 2008).

Byfield, B. 2007. Brazil’s FOSS utopia image at risk. Linux. http://www.linux.com/articles/59637. (accessed May 4, 2008).

Kelly, B. 2008. SA’s open source acceleration. MyBroadband News. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/3690.html (accessed May 6, 2008).

Kingstone, S. 2005. Brazil adopts open-source software. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4602325.stm. (accessed May 1, 2008).

ITNews. 2007. Major Aussie political parties back open source. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/65654,major-aussie-political-parties-back-open-source.aspx(accessed May 10, 2008).

Tung, L. 2008. Open source barred from Australian government. ZDNet Australia. http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Open-source-barred-from-Australian-government-/0,130061733,339287833,00.htm(accessed May 10, 2008).

Tung, L and Kotadia, M. 2008. Department of Defence: Gref Garr, CIO (part one). ZDNet Australia. http://www.zdnet.com.au/insight/soa/Department-of-Defence-Greg-Farr-CIO-part-one-/0,139023731,339288461,00.htm(accessed May 10, 2008).