FI: 'Increase of open source by companies spurs public administrations'
Like Finish companies, public administrations in Finland are increasingly turning to open source, says Matti Saastamoinen of the the Finnish Centre for Open Source Solutions (COSS). "Their uptake is a little slower, but I expect them to speed it up in the next few years."
An annual survey on the use of software by Finnish companies shows that
now 75 percent of Finish companies are using open source, up from 13
percent in 2000. Researchers base this on the response from 660
companies. "Open source systems and applications have become
mainstream", the researchers said during a presentation last month at
the OpenMind conference in the city of Tampere.
The survey has been conducted since 1997 by the University of Helsinki and the University of Turku.
According
to Saastamoinen, this trend is influencing the IT strategy of Finnish
public administrations. "For instance, the cities of Oulu, Tampere and
Lahti are moving to open systems, to increase interoperability, reduce
procurement costs, save money on maintenance and increase IT
competition."
Next, he says, public administrations are changing
their call for tenders. "More and more these IT tenders are written so
as to include providers of open source solutions." COSS earlier this
year published a guide on open source procurement. "This guide is
helping public administrations to understand, evaluate and use open
source."
A third example is the ministry of Finance, says
Saastamoinen. "The ministry is making available its so-called
'OpenOffice Portable-package', a collection of OpenOffice templates and
documentation that can be used by all the state organizations and
communities.
Saastamoinen says Finland has not yet developed a
national open source policy, but the government has been recommending
the use of open standards and open interfaces for the past five years.
It would help, he says, if ministries and communities decide to only
accept IT solutions based on open standards, make interoperability a
priority and increase cooperation when procuring IT. "To help bring
this about, we are working on a software repository for public administrations, where their IT department can share their applications."
More information:
National Software Industry Survey
Centre for Open Source Solutions
