EURIM OPEN SOURCE GROUP
Open Source in Government
Open Source Software (OSS) is software whose source code is openly published, is often developed by voluntary efforts and is usually available at no charge under a licence defined by the Open Source Initiative, which prevents it from being redistributed under a more restrictive licence (effectively this means that anyone distributing OSS, making modifications or improvements to OSS or using OSS to create derivative products must make the source code of such derivatives publicly available). It does not necessarily prevent people from taking commercial advantage of such products or charging for distribution. EURIM welcomes the support of the OeE for public sector procurements to evaluate Open Source solutions just as they evaluate conventional commercial software - on the basis of reliability, scalability, cost, security, adherence to open standards and overall functionality. Yet in some parts of government there is an ambivalent approach to open source software despite EU and UK government policy that encourages the appropriate application of open source solutions. Much can be gained from the intelligent use of open source but there is confusion on several levels – firstly how it is defined, secondly, what is available and thirdly when it is appropriate to use it.
Open Source Group
The Open Source group is a sub-group of EURIM’s Modernising Government working party. It has been tasked to look into the current situation regarding the use of open source in public sector systems and try and clarify the positions and arguments. The group membership includes parliamentarians, civil servants and observers from DTI, OeE, OGC and NAO, corporates, small firms, trade associations and professional bodies and represents a wide range of perspectives on the Open Source arena. The group is chaired by Chris Godwin of IBM. The group’s parliamentary sponsor is The Earl of Erroll.
Group Terms of Reference and objectives
EURIM is in an excellent position to reinforce the work of the OEE and OGC in giving government an informative and balanced view of the value of OSS. The Open Source sub-group is tasked with reducing the confusion by defining terms and clarifying the situation, setting the issues into context and de-mystifying some of the prevailing positions.
Group Deliverables
The group’s deliverables are: A briefing or paper on open source to clarify the issues and to include an overview of the current state of play and the good work already being done. A glossary of terms and definitions to support the status report. A simple status report giving an overview of open standards issues to help improve understanding.
Group Outputs to date
Date	Type of Output
	Overview
23 Jul 03	Minutes	Minutes of the meeting to review EURIM’s draft paper on Open Source Software
7 Jul 03	Minutes	Minutes of the meeting to review EURIM’s draft paper on Open Source Software.
22 May 03		Drafting group meeting – no minutes taken
19 Feb 03	Minutes	Minutes of the drafting meeting on Open Source for e-Government
6 Dec 02	Minutes	Scoping Meeting on Open Standards and Open Source for e-Government
Work in Progress
Nov 03	Overview / Status report	Status report on Open Source – defining what it is, clarifying the confusion over terminology, setting out some advantages and disadvantages. Currently in draft form.
Nov 03	Glossary of terms	A glossary of both Open Source and Open Standards terms to support the two status reports. Currently in draft form
	Status Report	Status report on Open Standards, currently in outline form only.

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