Matthew Revell

A future Conservative government would “create a level playing field” for open source software, George Osborne - Shadow Chancellor - has announced. It’s the top story on the Conservatives home page, at the moment.

Citing the Japanese government’s plans to move to open source payroll and Extremadura’s Linux move, Osborne claims open source software could bring a?5% saving on central government’s IT spending.

It appears, though, that Osborne understands that it’s not just about cost savings:

“What it is about is better and more effective government. The problem is that the cultural change has not taken place in government. There isn’t a level playing field for open source software. As it stands, too many companies are frozen out of government IT contracts, stifling competition and driving up costs.

“All too often, a government IT system is incompatible with other types of software, which stifles competition and hampers innovation. Looking at the litany of IT projects that have collapsed or spiralled over budget, it’s clear too that this has meant billions of pounds wasted and public service reform being hampered.

“Let’s start being open source right now.”

It’s great to see the number two of the UK’s opposition party taking open source seriously. Whether it translates into action …?well, let’s see.