ofe-comment-250209-final

thOFE Comment 25 February 20 09UK Gov ernment Announcement - Open source, Open standards and Re-Use: Government Action Plan Yesterday the UK Government published its lon g expected up date to its po licy on Open Source a nd Open Standar ds. As someo ne who has vocally critic ised the UK as bei ng a 'laggard i n Europe', I am de lighted to se e it pu blished and warml y welcome it. I congratulate the CIO's team on its prod uction. A survey to be p ublished shortly by Public Sector Forums at their co nference in Apr il will show that on e of the issues h olding back Open Sourc e adoption in Loca l Government was 'lack of centra l leadership' - this announcement is highly timely.Being realistic it pro bably doesn't go as far as some other countries, notab ly the Netherlands, but it is an enorm ous step forward. No dou bt in seeking to avoid the wailing of those still tr ying to protect the status quo, it is highly pragmatic a nd practical in its ch oice of words. Without doubt the headlines will focus o n Open Source but actual ly there is more of interest in that it has acce pted the need to avoid lock-in to pro prietary sol utions, to recognise that lifetime costs must include exit and transiti on costs, and to requ ire the use of Open Standards. These are exactl y the words and actio ns that OFE and its memb ers have been camp aigning for across Europ e, as be ing esse ntial if we are to take advantage of the i nnovation and cost advantages availab le ...