The UK and Open Source Love

November 8, 2011

Maybe it is the change of seasons? Maybe it is the dismal state of agency funding? Maybe it is open sourciness season?

Ever wish Open Source projects saw more cheerleaders? The H Open reports, “Open source buying toolkit published by UK Cabinet Office.” In a bid to smooth the path for public sector adoption of open source solutions, the UK Cabinet Office developed this toolkit and is distributing it through their site. The article describes,

The toolkit consists of a set of documents including an introduction to open source, an advice note on how procurement of open source should progress, ‘Options for open source’ and guidance on total cost of ownership. The options document surveys various sectors of the IT industry and notes open source alternatives to particular products in those sectors; for example, in the cloud section it lists OpenStack, Eucalyptus and OpenNebula as alternatives to Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, VMWare and Citrix, and offers resources for further investigation.

The guidelines do note that one should compare the total costs of ownership before making the choice. Where those costs are equal, though, they recommend open source for its flexibility. They also seek to debunk myths about open source on things like security and licensing..

This has got to be good news for the open source community. We think it will also inspire decidedly commercial firms to grab their open sourciness garb and hit the conference circuit. Everyone is open source, even for-profit outfits. The question is, “Can open source survive a government embrace and the hugs from commercial enterprises which want to be “open”?

Cynthia Murrell, November 8, 2011

Comments

3 Responses to “The UK and Open Source Love”

The UK and Open Source Love : Beyond Search | Linux Supersaniya on November 8th, 2011 5:19 am

[…] The toolkit consists of a set of documents including an introduction to open source, an advice note on how procurement of open source should progress, 'Options for open source' and guidance on total cost of ownership. [Read More] […]
What are the 283 infringements of Microsoft patents by the Linux kernel | The future belongs to those who prepare for it today on November 8th, 2011 1:23 pm

[…] The UK and Open Source Love (arnoldit.com) […]
OpenRecommender v1.0 released! « BCmoney MobileTV on November 11th, 2011 7:09 am

[…] The UK and Open Source Love (arnoldit.com) […]

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.