Posted on February 25, 2011 by Simon Phipps
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Excellent move here, although of course the devil is in the details. The big problem with getting open source into government procurement anywhere in the world is that the system by which software is procured is weighted heavily in favour of proprietary software. The changes that are being discussed in the UK are good, but it will take more than this sort of step – easily assimilated by grudging but powerful proprietary vendors and the SIs they own – to make a difference until software freedom becomes the focus.
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Simple but good comments about the role of community management.
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The account Ted gives in this nicely placed spin omits some of the events that I recall, and unfortunately treats the whole event as a matter of unwarranted competitive assault rather than anything to do with community. There’s some indignant stuff in the comments from multiple sources and at the end of it all I don’t feel anyone comes out looking very good. Ugly and unfortunate.
Filed under: Links | Comments Off on ☞ Community Missing?
Posted on February 25, 2011 by Simon Phipps
I am speaking at the ODF Plugfest here in the UK this morning, on the subject of the challenges facing the procurement of open source software by traditional enterprises (including the public sector). Based on a selection of experiences from ForgeRock’s first year, my talk considers procurement challenges that legacy procurement rules raise for introducing true open source solutions. My slides are available online. I consider two different needs:
- The need for legacy procurement barriers to be removed. Examples:
- requirements for indemnity that are only truly proportionate for proprietary software
- requirements for copyright assignment and license negotiation
- comparison of open source subscriptions with only the service portion of proprietary bids
- a preference to sustain the lock-in caused by previous procurement
- The need to recognise new value available from open source. Examples:
- Removal of the need to administer end-user licenses
- Long-term continuity – “community escrow“
- The ability to create ecosystems without vendor mandates
- Enablement of adoption-led deployment
If we’re to see open source solutions bringing budget and change flexibility to government IT as the Prime Minister wants, both kinds of change – addressing legacy processes and lock-in (so that SIs are out of excuses) and seeking new kinds of value – are essential.
Filed under: Events, Open Source, Procurement | Tagged: Government | 1 Comment »
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