U.K. Launches Open-Source Policy Group
Jeremy Kirk, InfoWorld
A new U.K. think tank will analyze how open-source software can
be
used in government and the private sector. The National Open
Center
will be the U.K.'s first organization dedicated to studying open-source
software issues. The National Open Center, based in Birmingham,
England, will be composed of working groups that will study open-
source issues, such as the use of standards and procurement guidelines,
according to Ed Downs, of the National Computing Center, a professional
IT membership organization. Unlike other European countries, the
U.K.
lacked an organization dedicated to studying open-source software,
he
said. Many of the innovations on the Internet would not have
been
possible without open-source software like the Apache Web server,
said
Scott Thompson, one of the founders of the National Open Center;
companies like Google and Yahoo use open source to drive down
their
software costs. Acccording to the Web site description: "The
National
Open Centre will have a schedule of events organised around the
key
issues that they are addressing, as determined by the Advisory
Board.
This will involve a call for participation including subject
panels,
an exchange of ideas, one or more seminars and ultimately the
dissemination of the resulting paperss. The overall work plan will
be
guided by the Advisory Board which will identify key OS&S
related
issues for the UK which can benefit from clarification and the
development of strategic thinking. This board will seek to represent
a broad range of expertise and interest including, but not limited
to,
the OS community, vendors and users, those with interests in
software,
standards and society, and standards, public, private and voluntary
sectors, commercial, new media and embedded applications."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/26/HNukopensourcegroup_1.htmlSee also the National Open Centre:
http://www.nationalopencentre.org.uk/"The way to be is to do" - Confucius (551-472 B.C.)