Open Source and the Draft UK Government IT Strategy
December 2, 2009
As widely reported, a draft ‘unclassified’ copy of the Government’s new public sector IT strategy has been made public, ahead of the final report’s scheduled release later this month. The original PDF version can be downloaded here from PSF while the Conservative Party has also made a copy open to comments online (powered by WordPress). Bear in mind this is said to be an ‘early’ draft of the strategy and not the finished work.
Notably, in terms of concrete action to take forward the Government’s strategy on Open Source, Open Standards and Re-Use, the draft report says:
“the Open Source, Open Standards, and Reuse working group will deliver clear and open guidance for ensuring that open source and proprietary products are considered equally and systematically for value for money. By 2011, public bodies will store and share records of their approval and use of Open Source software on the G-Cloud. The Government Applications Stores will hold Open Source solutions that are available for reuse in the public sector and by 2015 public bodies will review existing solutions available before going to market for new solutions.”
Judging from discussions I’ve had with the Cabinet Office, this isn’t the sum total of the Government’s plans to promote open source. However if you’re looking for a great analysis of the draft strategy, see this commentary from Computer Weekly’s Glyn Moody: Making Government IT Better and Open.
And talking of guidance on using open source solutions, NCC has a new white paper out, produced by the Open Learning Centre and OpenForum Europe.