Re: [Fsfe-uk] UK Government Report: "Open Source - The UK Opportunity"

[Alex Hudson]

On Sat, 2002-01-12 at 16:21, MJ Ray wrote:
> Luminas. Does anyone have further information on the report "Open Source -
> The UK Opportunity" mentioned in it?  Was anyone here consulted for it?

One source I found was:
http://www.ncc.co.uk/aboutncc/press_rel/uk_open_source.html

There is a five-page summary here. 

Usual Open Source/Free Software misunderstanding; the particular brand
of confusion on offer here is that the FSF makes all Free software. A
lot of argument based on TCO/licence fees. They list the weaknesses of
Free Software roughly as:
- not independent review to assure quality;
- uncertainty about this type of software/support/etc.;
- lack of marketing impact

However, their analysis of future work is interesting (this report is
business-oriented, and is aimed outlining how UK Plc can maximise value
from Free software):
- support structure for advice and guidance;
- development of best practice in evaluation of TCO with regard to Free
software products;
- development of best practice and case studies w.r.t Free software
products and roll-out;
- central library to hold advice materials, co-ordinate certification
processes, standards testing, and maintain repository of Free software;
- UK Government to promote Free software to promote competitiveness in
the marketplace;
- Government to consider supporting 'aggregators': organisations
providing traditional stability for Free software products 

Their comments with respect to development of Free software are
particularly interesting, and seem quite forward thinking - they even
note that some of this may be detrimental to producers of proprietary
software.

> How can we best respond to this in particular?  Further discussion on the
> FSFE-UK list, please.

I suggest we get in contact with the NCC and DTi. This may tie in nicely
with the conference Richard Ibbotson is planning - which I seem to
recall is a DTi sponsored event? I'm hoping to make sure there is some
AFFS presence/materials there, and if the DTi/NCC are interested in Free
software this would be the ideal event for them to attend.

Cheers,

Alex.

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