Published by ZDNet Australia, February 19 2002

Federal government officials have quashed speculation that the use of open source software might be mandated for Australian government departments and agencies, despite growing interest in open source products within government bodies.

At a seminar on the use of open source software (OSS) held in Canberra yesterday, officials from the National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) were quick to dismiss suggestions that such a plan might be pursued.

"Most of you probably know that the Commonwealth Government has not promulgated a specific policy on agency use of OSS," NOIE CEO John Rimmer told attendees. "Unlike some other governments, we will not be rushing to do so."

Proposals to make the use of open source software compulsory at government level are gaining strength in a diverse range of countries, including Denmark, France, Peru and China.

While open source might not be compulsory, curiosity on the subject certainly appears to be growing rapidly in Canberra. Around 150 public servants attended the seminar, and NOIE was forced to turn away some prospective attendees.

It is now examining the possibility of a follow-up seminar in Canberra, and may also consider repeating the exercise in other capital cities. Despite the presence of specially imported speakers from IBM and Microsoft -- the former a key supporter of open source, the latter a vocal opponent -- there were relatively few fireworks on the day, with both sides agreeing that open source would have a role to play in future IT plans.

"The real strength of open source is collaboration," noted Peter Gigliotti, assistant director for central operations and systems at the Bureau of Meteorology, which has been an early adopter of Linux.

Gigliotti warned that even with collaboration, fully embracing the concept was not a trivial exercise. "It took us a year and a half to really build the expertise we needed in open source."

Many attendees appear concerned about whether open source was being embraced in the private sector, mindful of the minimal impact of earlier government-led IT initiatives such as GOSIP. "Lots of people have been asking me about the difference between private sector and public sector uptake," said Mary Ann Fisher, program director at IBM.

Despite the strong turnout, some remain sceptical that open source will ultimately engage agency attention. "It's a little bit early to know whether this model will ultimately be successful," said Greg Lehey, president of the Australian Unix and Open Systems Users Group.

Angus Kidman travelled to the NOIE Open Source Software Seminar as a guest of IBM.