Commission to fund open-source IT trials

European Commission funds will help to pay for pilots of open-source technology for the public sector.

Local government user group Socitm is one of 16 member organisations taking part in the Consortium for Open Source in Public Administration (Cospa) project to promote use of non-proprietary software.

Socitm international secretary and Cospa representative Bob Griffith told Computing that part of the UK share of the Eur2.6m grant will be spent on trials testing the use of open-source products.

'Each local authority in the UK pays for proprietary software and if we can save some of that money by using open source there will be major benefits for the public,' he said.

'Cospa is about using case studies where people are doing something with open-source software to show it is possible. We will be inviting our members to apply to take part in the Socitm pilots and hope to have them in place by the beginning of June.'

Open source can potentially save local authorities millions of pounds, says Griffiths.

'People think there is no alternative to proprietary products, but there is. Under the licensing agreements proposed by Microsoft three years ago some local authorities are now paying well over £1m a year, so there are major benefits if we can come up with ways to save that money,' he said.

Cospa is due to run until the end of 2005 but members are already considering plans to continue beyond that date.

One possibility is a software accreditation scheme, says Griffith.

'If a council is going to move away from proprietary software it needs confidence that the open- source product has a future. If we can give a product a stamp of approval we can recommend that local authorities use it,' he said.