A matter of economics

Open source does not just mean the buying of Linux and Apache for web servers, and is not merely a matter of economics. The real benefits of free software development methodologies are the free exchange of knowledge and better models for the creation of software. The current policy expresses the wish to "embed an 'open source' culture of sharing, re–use and collaborative development across Government and its suppliers, building on the re–use policies and processes already agreed within the CIO Council, and in doing so seek to stimulate innovation, reduce cost and risk, and improve speed to market."

Previous policy announcements have gone further and have explicitly stated that the "UK government will explore further the possibilities of using OSS as the default exploitation route for government-funded R&D software by academic research institutes."

This suggestion offers a break from the tendentious fashion of recent years that private enterprise always knows best. Sometimes government should take a lead in pushing an idea which works, and sometimes it works out for the best. The most celebrated of early computers, Colossus, was created by Alan Turing and the research establishment at Bletchley Park during World War Two, and virtually every initiative responsible for the modern Internet was created in universities or other publicly funded research establishments, and released as public domain or free software.

"Open Source, Open Standards and Re–Use: Government Action Plan" PDF represents a real opportunity to initiate a real change in policy, with massive potential benefits for the computer software industry and research and development within the UK. The document also demonstrates that those who have drawn up the policy are fully aware of the logjams created by the procurement agencies and the system integrators, and the necessity to bring them into line. The measure of the plan's success will be the ability of the Minister for Digital Engagement to overcome the disengagement and inertia of IT managers and other agencies in the public sector.

Simon Phipps of Sun Microsystems said he "would have liked to have seen a timetable for the action plan. For this to succeed the government CIO needs to put an aggressive timetable in place." The Minister for Digital Engagement faces an uphill task.

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