FI: Government encourages open source use by public administrations
The Finnish government wants the country's public administrations to increase their use of open source and open standards. On Monday the government published a policy document to help public bodies with procurement and deployment.
The document, titled 'The use of open source software in public administration' provides methods to compare open source and proprietary software solutions. It also shows public administrations how to procure this type of software and how to make sure it can be supported. "There are many useful open source applications that no Finnish IT service supplier currently supports. However, if the public administration has sufficient knowledge and technical skill, selecting such an application can be justified."
The policy paper explains in detail the difference between open source and proprietary software. It lists benefits such as accelerated software development, increasing competition and giving local entrepreneurs and smaller software companies access to government procurement procedures. "Using open source can result in cost savings. The biggest part of this is caused by the increase in competition."
The policy similarly introduces open standards. The Finnish government says these should meet the conditions set by the European Interoperability Framework, demanding for example that such standards need to be maintained by a non-profit organisation and that they are developed in a procedure that transparent and fair for all stakeholders.
It refers to IDABC's works on the OSOR project and recommends the EUPL software licence. "This takes into account Europe's legal framework, so it is legally sound in all EU countries."
In the document the government also reminds public administrations to take care when using open source or becoming involved with the development. Using this type of software on desktops and in servers will not cause major risks to any organisation, the document says. "Only if such software is modified and distributed, you need to take good care of the conditions set in the software licence. However, participation in open source development can lead to more benefits than just passive use of applications."
More information:
The use of open source software in public administration (in Finnish)
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