In a recent speech, shadow chancellor George
Osborne gave an outline of his views on government IT strategy, and
stressed his goal of "open source politics". "Let's get digital"
was the message, and was supported by calls for self-regulation,
equality of information and the democratisation of the
internet.
Osborne's strongest argument was reserved for open source
software - and its rightful place at the heart of government IT. He
urged people to embrace the guilt-free advantages, and the immense
financial savings. He was unequivocal in his delivery open source
is a positive thing for government.
A political interest in open source is not new the Office of
Government Commerce published its Open Source Software Policy in
2004, and the advice to the government has for some time been to
consider open source options in IT procurement.
Since the OGC piece, trials in open source software have been
undertaken by the e-government Unit, Ofwat, Powys Council, the MoD
Academy and West Sussex County Council, among others. So if it is
already happening, what is Osborne calling for, exactly? It seems
he could simply be saying to the public sector, "get on with it".
And that advice could be appropriate.
However, such ringing endorsement of open source software, even
with a dossier of positive success stories to benchmark against,
should come with some cautionary notes.
To start with, it must be understood that open source software
is not licence free. The General Public Licence contains strict
stipulations and the Open Source Initiative goes on to list 50 or
so further licences - each with usage terms to obey.
Further, there are laws governing how governments procure, and
procurement of technology, open source or otherwise, will be likely
to be subject to procurement law if the relevant criteria are
met.
In his speech Osborne seemed to suggest that the OGC should
change procurement law to help promote the uptake of open source
software. But as EU members we are governed by the Europe-wide
Public Sector Procurement Directive, which would not allow a
political bias away from licensed software.
Finally, there are important human implications in moving to new
technologies. There could be a steep learning curve for users, and
even back-office software needs to be understood, integrated and
serviced. Introducing unfamiliar software would be a disruptive
process.
Osborne's speech was welcome despite its simplifications. It is
not a new argument, but its repetition was well timed. Open source
procurement was a debate opened by the current administration, but
not capitalised upon - or even progressed on significantly.
In the run-up to the next election, it is fair game for either
side to push this forward we should indeed be getting on with it.
So this was a call for action. The IT community will have to wait
and see if policy follows.