Open Source Bill For Australian Capital Territory 186
leinad writes "An article in The Age newspaper claims the Australian Capital Territory is set to become the first jurisdiction in the country to adopt a bill which says that public bodies should, as far as practicable, consider the use of open source software when procuring computer software. (The Australian Capital Territory is the small territory/state of Australia in which Canberra, the capital of Australia, is located.)" Seems like requiring blueprints from contractors, to me.
Software matters, OS does not (Score:4, Interesting)
However, most operating systems do not require alteration at any level below the distributor. Users are actively discouraged from changing their systems. Changing the system means possibly breaking compatibility with other systems which leads to headaches down the road as the forks diverge.
OTOH, software is always in a state of flux. Government software is always being updated, and as long as the underlying OS doesn't change serious portings of the software do not need to take place. In the case of end-user software, it is important that the government have the software source code in hand so as to be able to contract out to companies as necessary to update it.
But OS software is different, in that it is less likely that a change needs to be made for the purposes of government work. COTS is the name of the game, and as long as the systems are standardized to some degree things are hunky dory. There is no need for source code in the case of an OS.
food on the table (Score:5, Interesting)
This legislation means a lot to us - even though it doesn't cover the whole of the government, (as near as i can tell) it only applies to the ACT government.
We will now get a lot more interest in our services - and once we're in one government department, federal departments can't be that far away!
Exciting times.
CLUG (Score:4, Interesting)
CLUG projects include samba and rsync, so they could be called a 'shining light' for the ACT.
we already do this (Score:5, Interesting)
we are a small department, and without a large budget have managed to complete projects in a similar, if not smaller amount of time and that would have otherwise cost millions.
yes. millions
go figure.
Hacked up already (Score:4, Interesting)
Something that is just as interesting as the full hansard is the minutes and the changes that were made to the bill that has now been passed.
The line
'as far as practicable prefer open source software'
was changed to
'as far as practicable consider open source software'
Full minutes:
Are here [act.gov.au]
Page 8 has the bill
Page 10 has the ammendments
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
good (Score:4, Interesting)
Why was such a law needed? (Score:4, Interesting)
Are our politicians so inept that they have to hold onto the contraints of the law in order to purchase some new software? Wait...I think I just answered my own question.
what about pay back? (Score:3, Interesting)
The ACT! I'm sure and Australian will.... (Score:4, Interesting)
The ACT governments is not one of the 7 state governments, nor does it represent the Australian federal government.
My understanding is that the ACT Government represents the ACT (strange that)... an underfunded town that is smaller and less influential than Munich.
It's nice to see the activity, but don't get over excited, this isn't going to rock anybodies world.
Support is what kills Open Source... (Score:5, Interesting)
Government departments, local, State, or Federal have two common traits:
* They are risk averse
* They want someone to blame when things don't go right
Adopting an open source solution when all departments around you are Microsoft shops and all the local IT companies are Microsoft shops is seen as violating both traits.
Risk comes from the possibility that things may not interoperate (without your user base having to actually think for themselves). The first time a Minister or Dept. Head cannot open a memo or check a calendar because of file format problems someone will have to answer. Risk of this occurring increases as Redmond moves to close its file formats.
When open source fails there is no-one to blame. Even though blaming MS for failure in their software is pointless insofar as rectifying the problem it does provide suitable cover for bureaucrats. You and I both know that solutions to most open source problems can be had with a modicum of effort. However, if you cannot buy local IT company support for OpenOffice or whatever then you have to provide this effort yourself - something Australian governments have spent the best part of a decade divesting themselves of the ability to provide.
Good idea, and I hope it works, but I won't be holding my breath.
The birthplace of Tux! (Score:2, Interesting)
Canberra seems to be the epicentre of Linux in Australia. The Australian National Uni where I spent some time is very pro-Linux and Open Source.
Did you know that there are Uni's in Australia where people graduate with an IT degree, yet never once get their hands on Linux or BSD? Sad, very sad.