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The benefits of open-source software have been known to its proponents since the concept’s inception. Open source, by its very nature, is open software that allows for addition and modification of source code by any and all who choose to do so. Consequently, follow-on benefits become apparent: this open nature is conducive for producing an IT environment powered and supported by open technologies that are transparent, interoperable, and efficient.

Instead of being restricted by proprietary licencing and arbitrarily enforced limitations, open-source software leaves developers and users alike to make free choices about the software they use. Unrestricted by vendor lock-in, users are free to switch software solutions as they please, allowing IT departments and home users alike to make quick and resolute decisions concerning software they use.

This of course is much to the chagrin of large software organisations that rely on said vendor lock-in to maintain market share. This has been one of the main sticking points for many governments, businesses and other organisations plans to transition to free and open-source software solutions. However, recently the US Department of Defence and the Croatian government have both made serious efforts toward evaluating and implementing open-source software solutions for use in their day-to-day tasks; the Croatian government has implemented an open-source software policy for all government departments, which encompasses the following guidelines:

• Government institutions will choose and/or develop open source solutions as much as possible, instead of using closed source alternatives.
• The government will support development of closed source solutions that use open standards for protocols and file formats, and which are developed in Croatia.
• The government will support the use of open source programs and open standards outside of its institutions.
• The government will support the use of open source solutions in educational institutions; both closed and open source solutions will be equally presented to students.

(provided by NewsForge, “Croatian Government adopts open-source software policy“)

Indeed, from the NewsForge article linked above, here are the words of Domagoj Juricic, deputy state secretary at the Central State Administrative Office for e-Croatia, who is the leader of Croatia’s Open Source Software Policy project:

“The use of information technology in government administration bodies is increasingly becoming important. So far, most of the software we use is proprietary software, so we cannot modify or complement it, or link software from different vendors. These software products impose rigid commercial conditions of use and limit our possibilities. In this way, government administration bodies may be led into a dependent position on the supplier of the software. This could lead to closed information systems, which make the success and efficiency of our eAdministration project more difficult.”

Similar sentiments are put forward by the US Deparment of Defence’s report, The Open Technology Road Map. The report identifies critical differences between the acqusition of physical goods vs the aquisition and use of digital media. While currently, many proprietary software programmes are treated the same way as a physical good, the report argues the arbitrary limitations of proprietary software, stating:

Digital goods (software code, music, movies, etc.) once created can be copied perfectly with relative ease: limiting distribution enforces scarcity, but that scarcity is arbitrary and negotiated, rather than an innate property of the product.

This arbitrary limitation of software availability also has an impact on inter-departmental software sharing:

Currently within DoD, there is no internal distribution policy or mechanism for DoD developed and paid for software code. By not enabling internal distribution, DoD creates an arbitrary scarcity of its own software code, which increases the development and maintenance costs of information technology across the Department. Other negative consequences include lock-in to obsolete proprietary technologies, the inability to extend existing capabilities in months vs. years, and snarls of interoperability that stem from the opacity and stove-piping of information systems.

Alongside vendor lock-in and the consequent reliance upon the software vendor, proprietary software suffers from lack of features, as well slow turnaround time for bugfixes and feature requests. Open software does not suffer the same limitations, as software developers can be contracted as needed to make additions to existing software, without the arbitrary licencing restrictions placed upon alternative proprietary software. Software developed for use in one department can be easily deployed in other departments, and collaboration of efforts between inter-departmental software development is made easier.

If the Croatian government and the US Department of Defence can adopt open-source ideals, technology and software, there is no reason why other governments and government departments cannot do the same. Open software allows for consistent interoperability (code-sharing, systems compatability, data management), offers system transparency (ease of auditing, bugtracking and fixing, feature implementations) and improves efficiency (reduction of code duplication through code re-use, ease of integration of new features and technology, streamlining of developer contracting) and overall, produces not only a better system of software, but at the same time reduces cost, eliminates vendor lock-in, and produces community-friendly code, which benefits everyone.

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