Difference between revisions of "United Kingdom FOSS country experience"

Latest revision as of 12:13, 4 July 2016

The United Kingdom has had a policy regarding open source since 2004 which was later updated in February 2009. The reasoning behind adopting Open Source has to do with the government’s desire to offer the best, efficient and most value for service to its citizens.

Oftentimes in the last few years, the government has found that OSS has been better able to help in reaching this overall goal. The government has used it in the National Health Care Service, websites etc.

The government also strives to increase innovation within and without its halls in the country through its OSS use.

2004 FOSS Strategy Benefits

Some of the benefits that have been seen through the use of the strategy since 2004 are:

• Over 25% of secondary schools use the Linux operating system on at least one computer.
• The NHS “Spine” uses an open-sourced operating system meaning that 35% of NHS organizations (300,000 users) are supported on Linux infrastructure.
• Birmingham City Council has been rolling out open source software across their library services since 2005. All staff and public PCs in their library services now have a mixture of open source and proprietary software.
• The IT industry has started to embrace FOSS at a larger level, with the growth of more robust and sustainable SME’s appearing as well as the increase use of FOSS in larger enterprises and more government departments.

Government Effeorts and FOSS Obstacles!

Indeed, the government has been a major player in the introduction and proliferation of FOSS in the country. It has created within its folds an open source profession and recruits talent for the post. It has also established a “CIO Council” with the mandate of sharing information about good IT solutions and different experiences within the department.

Agreements between the government and its major IT suppliers have allowed certain closed software to be opened which has led to the sharing and re-using of common software components between different lines of business. However, there has been a certain level of problems that have arisen during the implementation phase of the strategy.

One of the main problems is that the government can still be treated as one large component rather than different entities. This is in addition to the continued lack of transparency on some contracts which has forestalled the cost reduction that might have been possible.

The government however established a site that has allowed citizens and other stakeholders to comment on the strategy and illuminate pitfalls. In 2009, taking into account the comments made the government “refreshed” the strategy, which placed more 30 emphasis on suppliers providing evidence that show FOSS had been considered in their plans. Furthermore, where proprietary licenses had to be bought, the government now requires that a study is undertaken showings a “shadow” price that takes into consideration a comparison to the total cost of ownership. Moreover, another stipulation made was that when a licence is paid for by the government, it will comprise the purpose of reuse to be used within any sector in the government and hence will not be rebought for different departments.

Furthermore, there have been studies that suggested existing problems with adopting FOSS, as in the case of NHS, where the use of various solutions has created problems in interoperability causing the loss of millions of sterling pounds. Therefore, it was suggested by the government that a standardization kit be drafted in order to ensure that this does not happen in the future.

2009 redrafted FOSS strategy

Keeping this in mind, the UK government has redrafted its strategy in February 2009 so that it provides a more even ground between the two types of software’s wherein it will focus on increasing skill levels and being more aggressive in adopting FOSS where it offers more value for money.

The new formed policy identified six goals and nine policy points, all of which focus on the following 10 action plans:

• Clarity in Procurement
• Increasing Government Capability
• Re-Use as a Practical Principle
• Achieving Maturity and Sustainability
• Challenging Suppliers to Actively Consider FOSS
• Considering the International Examples and Policies, and Keeping Up to Date with Developments
• Industry/Government Joint Working
• Establishing Open Standards
• Considering the Open Source Techniques and Re-Use within Government, and Appropriate Release of Code
• Maintaining Communication, Consultation and Review