Open source: the saviour of e-government?

Governments could share open source software under the latest e-government proposal from the European Commission (EC).

The move has been recommended by EC officials in a bid to curb the rising cost of e-government projects. European governments are expected to fork out E6.6bn this year on new systems and software, a 28 per cent increase on last year.

In a report published this week called Pooling Open Source Software, the Commission recommends setting up a software 'clearing house' where individual governments could donate open source systems they had developed for reuse by others.

The pooling centre could also provide expertise and technical support, and create a team of developers and policy makers to ensure the smooth running of the software swap shop.

All EU governments have already adopted the eEurope plan, a 2000 initiative which declared that all member states will "promote the use of open source software in the public sector and e-government best practice".

The German government has shown the most commitment to open source, announcing recently that it will move all its systems to Linux

EU Commissioner for Enterprise and the Information Society Erkki Liikanen claimed the move will ensure standard best practice across European governments.

"Good practice is built on proven solutions that work. Software and applications that work in practice are an important element of this. They could be used as a source of inspiration for member states to develop interactive public services," he said in a statement.

Geoff Petherick, chair of software licensing with IT lobby group Eurim, said such a move could topple Microsoft's near-monopoly on government software contracts.

However, he said the Commission should consider expanding the proposal to include the commercial sector.

"This move makes sense. But if it's available to European governments, why not make it accessible externally to businesses? Industry as a whole would benefit."