UKGovOSS opens for discussion on open source in government

A new site, UKGovOSS.org, has been launched by Public Sector Forums to encourage discussion about open source and open standards in government. The UKGovOSS.org was created to continue the discussion which started at PSF's Local Government Open Source Conference in April 2009.

To mark the launch of the site and begin the debate, UKGovOSS.org have published a report on the state of open source in local government. The report, "Open or Closed?", identified 370 local government deployments of open source after surveying 168 local authority managers and staff. It also showed that 75 per cent of councils use open source primarily because of lower cost, and that around half of the respondents said their council would increase use of open source by 2011. Office software is, according to UKGovOSS, where open source is expected to have the most impact on local government in the next three years.

The UKGovOSS.org site takes the form of a social networking site with user profile pages, special interest groups, email updates and the ability for users to create blogs. Public Sector Forum's Ian Cuddy said "We wanted to create an independent space to connect all those involved with public sector use of open source, as well bring together the various communities, interest groups and pockets of activity out there". The site is not supported or funded by the government but is sponsored by Bull Informations Systems and One Point Consulting.

(djwm)