By Peter Judge, 13 September 2007 14:50
NEWS
The UK's failure to make use of open source is a "scandal", according to open source experts speaking at a key Westminster debate.
Linux kernel developer and Red Hat fellow Alan Cox told delegates at the Westminster eForum event: "There is more open source work being done in Guatemala."
The public sector is scared of open source, according to Cox, who said rules that restrict the use of open source in schools are building obsolescence into the UK education system by ensuring children do not become familiar with open source software.
Cox said there are "fundamental problems with the British government itself". The UK's civil servants are averse to risk, only dealing with large, established companies, he said.
John Powell, chief executive of UK-based content-management software vendor Alfresco, said: "We're one of the fastest-growing UK companies but, for whatever reason, the UK is not an open market for open source software." One hundred thousand workers at the European Commission use Alfresco, along with three of the world's top investment banks, he said, but the company only makes five per cent of its revenue in the UK because of the country's fear of open source, which he dubbed a "scandal".
He said: "The UK is a different market to the rest of Europe," adding that large software companies have always been able to sell their software directly in the UK, have become more entrenched and have been able to project the message that open source software is "risky".
There is almost no open source in use within the UK government, said David Gauke, Conservative MP for South West Hertfordshire. The Treasury runs open source on less than six per cent of its servers and less than one per cent of its overall IT infrastructure, with the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Department for Work and Pensions/Health all having virtually no open source software, Gauke said, referring to information he gained from parliamentary questions.
The shadow chancellor, George Osborne, has estimated open source could save five per cent of the government's IT budget, which Gauke said would amount to £620m per year.
John Pugh, Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, was also active at the event, chairing several sessions. He has led a parliamentary campaign to try to force Becta, the government's schools IT agency, to recommend open source.
Microsoft had a different take. Nick McGrath, director of platform strategy at Microsoft, who put the case for proprietary software, said: "Most organisations are looking for a best-of-breed approach." Users would adopt Microsoft software because it "just works", he said.
Peter Judge writes for ZDNet.co.uk
Comments
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1. anonymous
'Microsoft Works' is an oxymoron!!
2. anonymous
Most of the IT admins that I meet in gov. are poorly paid recruits who come from that great pool of MS certified pros.
I think the perception within IT management is that OS / Linux skills aren't readily available from the skills market and that people that do have Linux skills are expensive because its niche.
3. Anil Srikantiah
Hi ,
From my experiance with Open Source i can say that Open source software can reduce the ROI for companies and organisations and there are many companies like JBOSS whcih also provides support at very competative rates and also the source can be customised , the only thing lacking is the mindset of people , most of whom cannot understand this complex technologies that are used .Over time this will definetely change .The US is leading the way in this what with many govt orgs in US using open source.
4. Radical Meldrew
If confidence in open source is growing, why does it rarely appear in public sector IT? Easily explained, the lethargic IT heads will not even bother to stick their heads above the trenches and seek innovation - not while it's safer to remain hidden in well trodden paths of ignorance. Recent high profile failures have worsened this situation and the introduction of blame culture by the vulnerable will ensure that public IT remains a negative source of progress for quite some time.
5. Asperger Technical
Investigations have confirmed that the easiest way to get an IT job in certain government departments such as councils and the NHS is with a Microsoft qualification. In fact several public sector organisations vastly prefer Microsoft qualifications over degrees. Very few public sector organisations want people with Unix or Linux skills.
Central government is squarely to blame for the lack of open source in the public sector. Our clueless politicians are unable to realise there is a bigger world out there than Microsoft.
6. anonymous
People use MS software because its there rather than because it works. MS software has a massive virus problem and there is no conclusive evidence that it works any better than anything else particularly for routine stuff like web browsers - in fact IE is playing catch up with Firefox on functions. Its basically complacency and "its not our money so why make an effort" that leads to entrenchment reinforced by proprietary file formats. While government has no credible strategy for migration to open systems they will constantly look foolish as the rest of the world moves on.
7. anonymous
Anyone considering this should split clients(desktops) out from servers. For servers, Linux is streets ahead (I don't have experience with other open source technologies).
However, for clients, because most of the applications are small and written by small inexperienced teams, a lot of them only run on Windows. Personally, when sourcing an application, if it works on multiple platforms it gives me an idea that the company might have done enough planning to write a decent application.
8. anonymous
Perhaps David Gauke should check his own website before opening his mouth and placing his foot firmly in it:
From http://www.davidgauke.com/
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 6.0">