.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.