Open Source vs COTS? Government strategy for 2010

Posted on 11.Feb 2010 by Ray Heffer in Business & IT

Government ICT strategy for 2010:

“Traditionally, the public sector has relied on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software or bespoke developments from global providers. This restricts the ability of the public sector to reuse solutions, reduces flexibility to manage assets efficiently and prevents government organisations from switching suppliers. The Open Source, Open Standards, Reuse Strategy provides government’s approach to open source alternatives that meet public sector requirements. Government already commits to using only open standards for documentation. The ICT Strategy will build capability within the public sector to increase the amount of open source code and software in use and to make it available for reuse elsewhere.”

If the government already commits to using only open standard for documentation, then how much you spending our document management and CRM applications?

Here are some alternatives:

• http://www.openkm.com
• http://www.alfresco.com
• http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm

With budget cuts and reduction in public spending, this certainly makes a lot of sense. Don’t fall into the trap of believing any myths about Open Source software!

1) Open Source doesn’t just mean it’s limited to Linux.
2) Open Source is 100% reliable. If it wasn’t then 90% of the internet wouldn’t be reliable as it’s based on Open Source standards (LAMP, Apache, BIND… TCP/IP!)
3) Large enterprises and government organisations are now taking this seriously.
4) Support is actually vast, with massive online communities and support & maintenance agreements often available at a fraction of the price of COTS.
5) It’s not over-complicated. In fact quite the opposite.

I’ve said my piece and will wait with baited anticipation. I am sure that many organisations still fear Open Source, but isn’t it time to change your mind?

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