Digital Rights Network

A POST (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology) note is being prepared on open source. You should send submissions by end of October to:

David Berry, Adviser
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology
Houses of Parliament
7 Millbank, London, SW1P 3JA, UK
email berryd@parliament.uk
POST's web site: www.parliament.uk/post 

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Scope Document:

September 2004
OPEN SOURCE

Rationale

Open source is collaboratively produced software
developed by online volunteers who release it on the
Internet to be freely used, modified and distributed. Open
source software has many potential applications, ranging
from word-processors, robust and secure operating
systems, websites and servers, to many of the underlying
technologies of the Internet. One of the most famous
examples is GNU/Linux, an operating system which has
impressed reviewers with the quality and stability of its
performance.

To examine the possible advantages, the UK e-
Government unit ran a public consultation initiative in
early 2004, aiming to investigate how open source
licensing could be used within Government. Nonetheless,
open source is generating widespread debate over its
licensing model, particularly from proprietary software
companies. This briefing will look at current and future
applications of open source software and issues raised by
its use.

Scope

The aims of the POSTnote on open source are to provide
MPs and Peers with an overview covering:
· Background: Introduction to and overview of open
source licensing and comparison with other software
licensing models.
· Current uses of open source: The main uses of open
source at present are on the Internet, mainly in webservers,
and in data servers in private and public
organisations that are large scale. Desktop use has
been limited.
· Future uses of open source. Where could open source
be used and how could its development processes
help technology projects be more productive.
· Overview of current UK initiatives to investigate or
encourage development of open source software.
· Policy issues arising from the use of open source in
Government and public sector bodies. The extent to
which the use of open source is recommended for
public organisations and the advantages and
disadvantages will also be examined.

Method

POST draws on the expertise of a wide range of external
parties. Input comes from businesses, NGOs, academics,
regulators and government. A draft of the note on open
source software will be circulated to all contributors for
comment prior to the publication of the final document.

Timing

It is planned that a draft of the briefing will be produced
during Oct/Nov 2004, for publication in Dec 2004.
Dissemination
All of POST’s publications are publicly available. The
briefing note will be published in paper form and
distributed to Parliamentarians and other interested
parties. It will also be available on POST’s website:
http://www.parliament.uk/post