Going Dutch

Open Source and Open Standards

Following on from the post by my colleague Atle Skjekkeland from his home country Norway, I remember seeing a similar story from the Dutch Government a few weeks ago.

The Dutch Government has set a soft deadline for the use of open source applications from the 2nd of April 2008 onwards. The rules have changed to Open Source software, like Open Office and Mozilla Firefox, being the norm and all proprietary software needing justification.

Currently already 7% of all Dutch city councils are using using Open Office or are in the process of switching over.

This is not just a passive endorsement or a suggestion, but the government will put money into the effort, as well as monitor and support those that want to make the switch. In the first year 2.35 million Euros (about 3,6 million US$) will be available and a special agency will be set up to help local and national government organizations to migrate. Money is assigned for the areas of Advise and Stimulation, Pilot projects, Knowledge Transfer/Training, including legal advice and cost for running the support agency as well. The same amounts have been assigned for the following 3 years.

From January 2009 onwards, all ministries must have a switch-over strategy. The full justification can be accessed here . Saving are expected to be in the region of 850,000 US$ per year as well as considerable improvements in the ability of the various agencies to exchange information and documents.

Although this initiative currently only covers the desktop application, there are isolated moves to also see whether this can be  extended to the Operating System. The city of Amsterdam for example is running Linux in the local housing agency as a Pilot Project.

by Hanns Köhler-Krüner