The new Open Source Laboratory, based at the NCC's facilities in Manchester, is part of the Open Source Academy, a national open source project that brings together numerous local authorities across the UK and has the support of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. The new lab is designed to provide a facility where local authorities can trial open source applications and configurations without disrupting their existing configurations. The first user will be Cheshire County Council, which is to evaluate a solution for desktop services that uses both open source and proprietary technologies.
Cheshire is one of a number of local authorities involved in the Open Source Academy project, which was launched in April to encourage the use of open source software. It also includes Birmingham City Council, Bristol County Council, and Shepway District Council, as well as the University of Kent, the NCC, the Society for Information Technology Management, the Institute of IT Training, the Open Source Consortium and Open Forum Europe.
The project has received funding from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's e-Innovations initiative to encourage practical examples of new and innovative approaches to joined-up working, effective service delivery and community engagement.
While the use of open source software is still low among UK public-sector organizations, the opening of the test lab is the latest indication of a more favorable view of open source from the UK government.
In October 2004, the Office of Government Commerce declared open source software "a viable and creditable alternative to proprietary software for infrastructure implementations, and for meeting the requirements of the majority of desktop users."
Shortly afterwards, the UK government updated its official policy towards open source, which states that open source software should be considered alongside proprietary software with contracts awarded on a value-for-money basis, and that agencies should attempt to avoid vendor lock-in to proprietary products.
It also states that that the government will consider obtaining full rights to bespoke software code or customization of commercial off-the-shelf software where it achieves the best value for money, and that the Department of Trade and Industry, the e-Government Unit, and the Joint Information Systems Committee will disseminate information about open source licenses to support the use and development of open source software.
Quelle: Computer Business Review, 21.06.2005
