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From OpenEGov

Welcome to Open E-gov. The goal of this site is to facilitate and encourage the use of free software and open standards in all branches of the British government and public services. You can explore the site from the links below, or help to build this site up from its small beginnings: visit the community portal page to find out how.

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Where

Police, Fire, Defence

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Library services

Voluntary sector

Experience of other countries

Related websites

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Why

The argument for use of free software by the state is not about cost; it is not even about stability and freedom from viruses; it is an argument of principle.

These principles include:

The right of the citizen to free access to public information
The duty of the state to ensure permanence of public data
The need for security of the state and its citizens
The duty of the state to keep software developed with public money available to the public

These and related principles have been discussed around the world in recent years. One classic statement came from Dr. Edgar David Villanueva Nunez in his widely publicised Letter to Microsoft, itself the culmination of several years discussion of the topic on free software mailing lists (which have also produced the Cuzco declaration). These principles have been countered by the Institute for Software Choice, which defends the interests of closed source software developers. Detailed rebuttals of their claims can be found at sincerechoice.org.

These are issues which should drive the adoption of free software from the citizens' point of view. From the point of view of those inside government, the immediate driving factors may be different but overlapping; they are inevitably more focussed on cost. Typically quoted reasons are:

And in the longer term, the need to avoid repeated and massive IT fiascos due to dependence on the UK suppliers oligopoly.

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