Switzerland Plans to Anchor Public Services’ Contribution to Open Source Software in Law
An Anonymous Coward writes:
Swiss federal government organisations and agencies will soon be free to share the source code of their software solutions as open source. In addition, software developers working for the federal government should be able to be part of open source communities. The government wants to anchor this in federal law, according to new Guidelines on Open Source in the Federal Government, made public last Friday.
The guidelines provide recommendations and background knowledge on the use and dissemination of open source software. The 21-page document balances the pros and cons of going open. The first chapter provides a list of advantages including no licence fees, pooling of resources, increased know-how and improved interoperability. These advantages may be offset by, for example, costs already incurred through IT vendor lock-in [OK? In other words if you've spent the money on proprietary software you might as well use it?], initial investment to gain open source expertise, and the need to handle changes in responsibilities and support needs. "Open source communities focus on the product and spend little time on marketing," the guidelines warn. "This can create the false impression that there is no open source solution available."
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