Sirius: Is the UK Government Backing Free Software?
This is a modal window.
The media could not be loaded, either because the server or network failed or because the format is not supported.
Formal Metadata
| Title |
| |
| Alternative Title |
| |
| Title of Series | ||
| Number of Parts | 64 | |
| Author | ||
| License | CC Attribution 2.0 Belgium: You are free to use, adapt and copy, distribute and transmit the work or content in adapted or unchanged form for any legal purpose as long as the work is attributed to the author in the manner specified by the author or licensor. | |
| Identifiers | 10.5446/45899 (DOI) | |
| Publisher | ||
| Release Date | ||
| Language |
Content Metadata
| Subject Area | ||
| Genre | ||
| Abstract |
|
FOSDEM 201150 / 64
3
7
10
11
17
19
21
28
33
34
35
37
40
44
48
49
52
55
57
59
62
63
64
00:00
FreewareSoftwareComputer animationXML
00:07
SoftwareGoodness of fitSoftwareComputer animationLecture/Conference
00:14
Labour Party (Malta)Open sourceBridging (networking)Power (physics)Labour Party (Malta)Computer animationLecture/Conference
00:52
Scaling (geometry)Computer animationLecture/Conference
01:05
Dependent and independent variablesCoalitionSystems integratorProduct (business)Open sourceExterior algebraComputer animationLecture/Conference
01:31
Level (video gaming)Control flowOpen sourceRandom numberGame theoryMathematicsRule of inferenceCommitment schemeStrategy gameStandard deviationInternet forumBuildingEvent horizonOnline helpLevel (video gaming)Exterior algebraOpen sourceEnterprise architectureSoftware developerCommitment scheme1 (number)Different (Kate Ryan album)AreaMathematicsRule of inferenceInternet service providerGroup actionSet (mathematics)Systems integratorMoment (mathematics)Power (physics)MereologyMoving averageProcess (computing)Computer animationLecture/Conference
04:12
Event horizonLaptopOffice suiteFocus (optics)Computer fontWindowDisk read-and-write headExterior algebraOpen sourceDigital rights managementDependent and independent variablesCASE <Informatik>BitClient (computing)MathematicsFunctional (mathematics)Process (computing)AreaRight angleLevel (video gaming)Information technology consultingDebuggerEncryptionSelf-organizationFront and back ends5 (number)Principal idealLecture/Conference
08:53
XML
Transcript: English(auto-generated)
00:07
Hi, good morning everybody. My name is Laura Tchaikovsky and I'm going to be speaking about is the UK government backing free software. So historically in the past, no they've not. While they have said that they do have policies in place to provide and back open
00:23
source, they actually have never implemented it, but this is going to change. So for the previous 13 years, you've had the Labour government in power where they want to be perceived as pro-business and pro-business meant that they were majority large multinationals
00:47
and large multinationals meant that they were vendor locked in and usually not very friendly and open to open source. There were policies in place, but with that, what that meant was there was not actually anybody willing to actually implement them. At the
01:03
low scale, at the low end, like the civil servants, where they were responsible for buying for the products, the system integrators were all majority not very open source friendly. So we do actually have the open source policies in place, but they haven't been implemented
01:23
and that was basically due to prior governments. We do hope that actually does change. So with the new coalition in place, they have been looking at open source alternatives and this is at all levels, including senior level. There's a senior minister in place who deals with actually open source and that their sole job and role is to look
01:44
at open source in government, where they've set up think tanks to actually provide open source solutions. So how has that actually changed? Well, they've actually started to get commitment from political level. So the politicians in power at the moment actually want to see open source in
02:04
play. They're looking at other alternatives. They don't want to look at just the same old ding dong. They want to actually change the rules and how they're going to do about that is actually talk to open source developers here in the UK. They're going to actually ask for help and they are doing that at present.
02:23
So why the change is going to happen is that on the 11th of February this year, there's actually events that are going to take place in the UK to make this happen. There's a small to medium enterprise summit taking place with Francis Maud at the Treasury where members of open source agencies in the UK and people who are very well respected
02:42
in the UK are coming and taking part in those discussions and hopefully they'll be able to persuade the government that they actually should be looking at open source alternatives rather than just the usual system integrators. So they are looking at changing. Again in February, these have just been released, there's a summit taking place on the 21st
03:03
which is basically going to have members of open source advocacy groups including my company and other companies taking part in the event and they will be talking with procurement people and explaining that they need to look at all their alternatives. The areas they're going to look at obviously is they're looking at strategies, how they
03:21
can actually change things, how they're going to actually make a difference. But it is actually happening, a place in the UK we're very fortunate already Cardiff Council are looking at taking on workshops where they want to set up their entire infrastructure using open source technologies. The Ministry of Defence has just taken on a workshop and is looking at trying other solutions and the met for the weather.
03:44
They're also looking at changing. So there are change, they're looking at alternatives. It is going to happen very, very slowly though. One of the leading councils in the UK, Bristol Council which is one of the largest ones there has just rolled out their entire infrastructure will be using open source technologies
04:01
and that is one of the largest ones in the UK to roll this out which is pretty good to see that it's finally happening and it is going to be slowly happening. But at least it is happening. That's really it. Thank you.
04:36
Okay so the question was as individuals how can we actually help this happen? Well talking to your politicians, talking to your local governments or if you have
04:43
any contacts with the small to medium businesses, talking to them and explaining that there are other alternatives and other solutions or if you know of consultants that are in the areas then talking to them as well. Is the main focus on the back office or are you thinking they'll go on the desktop?
05:02
Pardon? Is the main focus to get open source into the back office? So the question is is the main focus to get into the back office or the desktop? It is both actually. So Bristol as an example, the back end is all through open source and it will be slowly integrated into the desktop. So start back end and go to the front end
05:20
if possible but start one way and then progress if possible. Is it a challenge? Yes it is a massive challenge but I mean if the likes of Bristol can do it I don't see any reason why other councils can't do it. Do you find in some of these councils it's one or two applicants and if they leave it just stops? Or is it more of a general? No I think... Do you get one or two key guys in a certain organisation and they really push it?
05:43
But if they don't drive it? Yeah no you're right. So but I think the case is that Bristol is actually pushing forward. They're actually having other events to push forward and they are the leading council that are doing this and other councils are asking about it which is the reason why we've had a kind of workshop based on that and other councils are looking for the exact same kind of what can we do, how can we do it, please sit us down and tell us.
06:04
So there is interest out there. Oh dear. Can you just briefly outline what the pitch is to the government? What's the advantage of open source and proprietary and who is the person you're targeting? Who's the person you're finding is the best person to speak to in an organisation to get this stuff to happen?
06:27
Who's the best person to talk to? Well from what I know and I've just started my company, what we have done is targeted the actual procurement people and talked to them and sit them down because sometimes the IT manager didn't really know what other alternatives there were and if that was the key blockade
06:44
then you can't get it in and if they are anti-open source then that means it's not going to get into the company even if the people above him actually like open source so you need to target the IT managers in certain cases. Due to competition I'm about to start working for a council and they're telling us that due to the inability to enforce encryption
07:04
and things like that on those laptops we have to use Windows and we're not going to be allowed to use LIRS. How do you combat that kind of mentality? How do you combat stupidity? I'm not entirely too sure to be honest. I know that in the case of, so the next two summits that are going to happen in the UK this month is when it's going to come down from government level telling the civil servants
07:25
which are the people that are going to be responsible for buying and promoting open source within companies they have to actually look at alternatives so they can't just come up with excuses like that anymore. They actually have to sit up and pay attention. You may want to look at what the European Commission is doing. They've been working a lot to give e-procurement guidelines for open source
07:43
and you may want to invite them in that summit because they've been working a lot with S&Ps to promote open source. Okay, thank you. One more. Hello Anthony. These workbooks that you're talking about, are they basically for open source consultancies to find out how can we work with government
08:02
how that process works and the complex arrangements that the government have in place or are they the government to find out how open source works and how they can use it? Questions about how our workshops actually work. Well, it's the latter, Anthony. They actually work with clients where our company goes in and talks and sits down with the council and see what kind of requirements they actually want and how best they can actually be met.
08:27
With regards to education, our company is actually helping organize the senior leader conference on April 5th in the UK and we're hoping to educate the principals and leaders in the education about open source.
08:42
So yeah, it is going there slowly but it's a bit harder in those cases. Alright, thanks very much.