Conservatives back open source
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.
Hiya – you just published (a better version of) my blog post! Funny, I didn’t even think to check the Tories’ home page; probably as I was kinda in a hurry to be first on Planet Ubuntu with the story
Let’s hope it does translate into action, and, err… snap!
Toby
Hey. How about changing the title to UK Conservatives Back Open Source
Why?
Sadly I can’t see this as a good thing at all. Cameron has leached onto the green line without any real policy, and now I assume he’s doing the same with open source. The tories have had no policy in years, and this time they’re jumping onto open source as another way to say nothing very loudly..
and i wondered why my mps theyworkforyou feed was filled with questions asking *every single government department* how much OSS they were using.
Cause that way it is not confusing, there are conservatives in several different countries.
Sorry about the way that probably came across, by the way.
I was in a rush to go help some friends on their assignment.
However, only one Conservative Government has that particular Shadow Chancellor. Also, this blog is from a guy in the UK. He also links to the site, which states it’s the UK party. Oh, and he said it was the UK party at the bottom!
Ahh he listened!! I had a telephone conversation a couple of months ago with George Osbourne.. he’s a good chap.