UK Gov testing open source

[Chance1234]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3181108.stm

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[jrbarnett]

Chance1234,

Very interesting. China has said it will use only Open source software - I wonder if Tony B et al will go that far...

John

 

[clarkin]

This letter from Peru to MS (2002) is quite informative:

http://www.opensource.org/docs/peru_and_ms.php

Some good points about governments needing to store their people's information forever, and not wanting to rely on someone's proprietary file formats to do it.

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[ignore][/code][/ignore].

 

[dilettante]

I guess they haven't considered RTF, or the XML formats used by Office 2003, or saving in HTML, or... plain text.

 

[Chance1234]

one of the advatnage i can see of going down open source, is hopefully the goverment will cut down on the amount of outsourcing it needs.



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[sleipnir214]

dilletente:
XML or RTF will work for text documents.

But the gentleman from Peru was also talking about the formats used by SQL Server, Exchange Server, etc.

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions:

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TANSTAAFL!!

 

[rosieb]

Hardly surprising that the UK Government are looking at this. The E-Government initiative requires that ALL services which can be made available electronically to citizens, should be made available by end 2005. Not to mention the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which comes fully into force sometime in 2005 (not sure exactly when) which requires full disclosure of information held on individuals and other matters, on request.

I work in a small district council, we have identified over 1000 services, most of which will have to be supplied electronically (everything from rehousing the homeless to requesting a recycling bin). FOIA means we need to know what info we have, acres of paper, any current search would take forever.

There are nearly 500 local councils in UK all going through the same process. Essentially, we're all doing the same things but with very little co-ordination, so few economies of scale (councils tend to be very parochial - two local councils can't possibly use the same system for distributing bus passes, totally different local requirements!!!!).

The software/system suppliers are having a field day (the way things are budgeted means not just purchases but masses of consultancy too), £squillions are being made available for this.

My only surprise is that they didn't go for open source earlier.

 

[rosieb]

MS are now paying for consultancy to prove they are "better" than open source.....

http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=125599

 

[Chance1234]

Looks like MS are on the run!



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[Tarwn]

I dunno, it looks like MS is marketing to me...

 

[lionelhill]

rosieb, thank you so much for explaining how my taxes get spent. I was sure it wasn't all for extra police in case I riot when they next send me my council tax bill!

 

[rosieb]

lionelhill

And you're keeping me in the luxurious lifestyle to which I have become accustomed, don't you just want to rush out and demand they raise your Council Tax.