Open Source Blog

Conservative shadow chancellor, George Osborne, has promised “that an incoming Conservative government would create a level playing field for open source software in the UK, in a move which could save taxpayers more than £600 million a year.”

Incredible scenes, as Glyn Moody has noted.

According to a speech made by Osborne at the Royal Society of Arts:

"What it is about is better and more effective government. The problem is that the cultural change has not taken place in government. There isn't a level playing field for open source software. As it stands, too many companies are frozen out of government IT contracts, stifling competition and driving up costs.

"Taking into account the experience of companies and public sector bodies, it is estimated that the Government could save at least 5% of its annual IT bill if more open source software was used as part of a more effective procurement strategy. That adds up to over £600m a year. The internet age is transforming politics and has the capacity to transform government. Let's start being open source right now."

Osborne also announced the appointment of Mark Thompson, of the Judge Business School at Cambridge University, to advise the Party on how to make Britain the open source leader in Europe.

The current Labour UK government has come in for criticism in some quarters for failing to promote open source software despite research indicating it could produce savings at a national level.

In November 2006 Liberal Democrat MP for Southport, John Pugh, tabled an early day motion criticizing current government agencies for preventing the adoption of free and open source software in UK schools and universities.

Despite a British Education Communications and Technology Agency report published in May 2005 that indicated the use of open source software could produce total cost savings of 44% per PC for primary schools and 24% for secondary schools, Becta renewed its memorandum of understanding with Microsoft in January.

Having done so it somewhat confusingly then took Microsoft to task for its educational licensing programmes and the unsuitability of Vista for education.

As noted back in August last year, the Government’s official policy towards open source, takes a typically New Labour 'third way' approach that could either be left or right of centre, depending on your point of view, and states that open source software should be considered alongside proprietary software with contracts awarded on a value-for-money basis.

*Of course whether the Conservative Party will be in a position to change that policy depends on it getting elected for the first time in over 10 years at the next election, which could be as late as June 2010, but it is interesting to see the party using open source as a tool to try and win votes.

In particular, it is worth comparing the reality of opposition in the UK to the imagined opposition of Rob Enderle in the US.