Open Source Blog

The early day motion states:

“That this House congratulates the Open University and other schools, colleges and universities for utilising free and open source software to deliver cost-effective educational benefit not just for their own institutions but also the wider community; and expresses concern that Becta and the Department for Education and Skills, through the use of outdated purchasing frameworks, are effectively denying schools the option of benefiting from both free and open source and the value and experience small and medium ICT companies could bring to the schools market.”

At the time of writing it had subsequently been signed by 10 further MPs from the Liberal Democrat, Labour, Conservative, and Social Democratic and Labour parties.

The criticism of Becta is significant given that its three-year Memorandum of Understanding with Microsoft is scheduled to expire on December 31 this year. In January Becta announced that it was to review the impact of Microsoft's educational licensing programs in the UK, and consider alternatives to Microsoft Windows and Office for the UK's schools and colleges.

That review followed a May 2005 Becta report that indicated that the use of open source software could produce total cost savings of 44% per PC for primary schools and 24% for secondary schools, compared to standard commercial software PC configurations. The study was funded by the Department for Education and Skills and approved the use of open source software for primary and secondary schools.

An interim report examining Microsoft licensing arrangements was supposed to be delivered in June with a second report, examining home and school computer use, due to be published in August.

Neither report has seen the light of day, however. I was told by Becta in August that the publishing of the interim report had been delayed. At the time of writing Becta had not responded to a request for comment on the early day motion or its examination of Microsoft’s licensing.

UPDATE - Becta says the report has been delayed thanks to delays with Vista and its licensing arrangements. The report is now expected to be published around the BETT educational technology event in Janaury 2007.

Meanwhile an August 2006 survey hosted by the University of Oxford indicated that the use of open source software is on the increase at further and higher educational establishments.

The survey found that 77% of institutions consider open source software when procuring software, although only 25% of institutions mention OSS in an institutional policy.

UPDATE 2 - Becta has denied that it is preventing schools from benefiting from open source software and that its procurement frameworks are out of date. Its statement is here.

*According to Parliamentary Information Management Services an early day motion “is a motion put down ("tabled") by Members of Parliament calling for a debate on a particular subject. In practice, there is rarely time to debate EDMs nowadays and their true modern-day purpose is to enable MPs to draw attention to an issue and to canvass support for their views.”

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