South African Government Opts For Open Source

Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi , Minister of Public Service and Administration of South Africa, writes in The Sunday Times:

[ITWeb, 4 Jul 2003] The increasing role of information technology in government offers an integral tool for the strengthening of state institutions. Last year, at the eAfrica Conference, a conference about developing information technology in governance on our continent, delegates - both politicians and officials - told of the challenges of providing government services in countries ravaged by decades of war, famine and political instability, where infrastructure is minimal.

Along with IT development comes considerable cost. In a developing country like SA, billions are spent on software licences - billions of dollars in valuable foreign exchange, money going out the country that could be used to build houses, roads, hospitals and schools, are going to multi-national companies in order to use their software.

Is there an alternative Yes, and it is called open source software (OSS).

(via Linux Today)

Government adopts an open source software strategy

SA is now joining a growing list of countries whose governments formally recognise the value of OSS. Last month Cabinet approved the OSS strategy compiled by the Government IT Officers Council joining a diverse range of countries, including Germany, Mexico, China and others in explicit recognition and utilisation of OSS.

Not only will we save taxpayers' money directly but because government is the country's largest IT user, its adoption of OSS is expected to act as stimulus for adoption in other sectors.

The value of OSS

Cost

OSS has the potential to improve the cost and speed of service delivery and thereby efficiency in the public service. It can also impact positively on quality. Existing OSS can be obtained at low expense and then redistributed widely without further payment for licences. This creates a potential for significant cost saving. Furthermore, because different vendors all have access to the source code, they can compete to sell their support services, exercising downward pressure on prices.

Support

As long as there is a market for support, the open source code allows anybody to provide it, whereas proprietary software (PS) support is dependant on the development company. If that company goes out of business, the support can disappear with it.

Security

Some critics maintain that using OSS is a security risk. Real experts can allay that fear. In fact, the availability of source code has the added advantage of enabling the user organisation to study it, determine whether its functioning poses any security risks and amend the software if so desired. Furthermore, when new problems are found, solutions are available far sooner than with PS, as anyone can examine the problem and find its solution.

Versatility

Because the OSS development communities are in general not associated with specific platforms, OSS can normally run on different platforms. (A platform is either the hardware used to run a programme, or the operating system - for example MS Windows - or a combination of the two.) Where it cannot, the open source code can make it possible to adapt, so that it does function on the desired platform. OSS is in many cases able to function on older machines that are no longer suitable for running the latest versions of comparable PS.

Forex savings and local development

OSS shifts the expenditure from licensing paid in forex to software adaptation and training, which can be done by local service providers.

Potentially better software

The more popular OSS is being used and further developed by many individuals across the world. Collectively these user communities tend to be able to find and fix flaws in programs faster than a company that develops and sells proprietary software, The peer review made possible by open source code brings many more minds to bear on the software and leads to software which is more error-free and resource-efficient than proprietary software.

How is OSS utilisation going to be driven

Two institutions in the Minister of Public Service and Administration's stable that are playing a leading role in OSS development are the State IT Agency (SITA) and the Centre for Public Service Innovation.

SITA is committed to establishing an OSS unit that will provide the support capacity for OSS applications. The Centre for Public Service Innovation has taken on the task of launching a number of demonstrator projects, aimed at implementing the OSS development philosophy for a selected number of applications, in order to demonstrate how the OSS model works in practice.

The process of establishing the "Digital Meraka", the CSIR's new OSS Resource Centre, has begun. The centre will strive to stimulate the OSS approach in SA and contribute to related efforts on the African continent and in the rest of the world.

Government's involvement in OSS