A conference to discuss the challenges facing local
authorities in choosing software platforms for delivering
e-government programmes will be held on 6 February. The conference
is being staged by London Connects and the Open Source Academy
(OSA).
The OSA, which is funded through the Office of the Deputy Prime
Mininster’s e-Innovations programme, is tasked with providing
answers to local authorities on the use of open source software
(OSS) and its integration with the proprietary systems that
dominate the sector.
The ODPM wants to see greater competition in the software market
and aims to encourage local authorities to make more use of OSS as
it believes it is potentially cheaper and more secure.
The conference will mark the launch of a certification scheme to
enable councils more easily to understand the implications that
proprietary software lock-ins can have on future procurement
decisions.
Called Certified Open, the scheme will gauge the “openness” of
software and its potential for integration and use with other
software systems, which will assist local authority officers when
making decisions about software procurement.
The conference will also announce the results of all the
projects being run under Open Source Academy auspices, including
the implementation of the open source Star Office collaboration
suite at Bristol City Council, and the roll-out of OSS at
Birmingham City Council.
For further information about the conference and the OSA go
to:
www.opensourceacademy.org.uk
or
www.londonconnects.gov.uk