.gov.au Guide to Open Source Software

kieronb writes "The Australian Government Information Management Office has recently released "A Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies". Surprisingly, it actually appears to have been written by someone with a clue, and provides quite a balanced overview of what F/OSS is and how it differs to proprietary software. Choice quotes: "Sourcing OSS solutions is a new and less understood area for Government Agencies. As a recult, it often seems to involve higher risk. As open source solutions become more mainstream and agencies gain expertise in evaluating and deploying them, this perception of risk should subside."; "Access to source code is, however, valuable to agencies by virtue of the economic flow-on effects that accrue when multiple vendors offer competing products based on the same technology. Access to source code also reduces the risk of vendor lock-in.""

Comments

Government Spending

[fgl]

Personally, I don't see how any government can in good conscience spend money on a solution, when there is a free, standards based alternative.

OSS as only acceptable choice ?

[moz25]

I think that at some point, an organization as big as a country's government should consider itself in a good position not to accept vendor lock-in, where the cost savings are just part of the equation. So yes, it will probably catch on. This demand is already being recognized by vendors, considering MS' shared-source program.

Hooray, but...

[aybiss]

While I do agree with the sentiments of the very first post...

As a programmer and hardware salesman/repairman I've seen and dealt with open source as well as MS solutions in both the home and office, long and short term.

I will say that the price of Microsoft software is pretty outrageous, almost the same as the hardware if you want the whole shebang. (Then again, try buying enough MYOB functionality to run a shop, that will set you back a pretty penny :-o).

Some free software is fantastic, in fact in many cases the free stuff is superior in various ways.
Some users will NEVER get the hang of Open Office. "It's just all too differenty to Word".

It's good to see a worldwide push towards this sort of software model because it will drive prices down and functionality up. ... ... but I can ring Microsoft 24/7 and talk to someone who will sort me out with basically anything on Windows, Office, the Internet... ... (ellipses are cool) ...

The question still remains whether or not these government departments (or anyone) will benefit in the long term. One thing I can tell you is that in Australia getting some guy to fix your XP box will cost about $35/hr whereas a really hopeless Linux administrator will cost about $75. In a 'regional' area like Newcastle you'll have a hard time finding a guy who can install Debian.
("Debbie who?")

I think it will depend on what these people are doing, and how often they normally have to call the 'computer guy' (me).

this.mod(-2, "RAMBLING");

Aaron.