Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 May 2004
141 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the criticism of his choice of open standards software instead of open source software for e-access to Government and that due to the fact that Ireland is out of line with other European member states, it will have less control over upgrades and less security and reliability. [13332/04]
View answerI presume the Deputy is referring to a speech made by the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for the information society, Deputy Hanafin, at the recent ISA national software conference where she underlined the importance of open standards in interconnecting the public service's computer systems and exchanging data and information across these systems.
This is in keeping with the pronounced policies of other EU member states where open standards are considered critical to the development and operation of effective and sustainable inter-operability architectures. I understand the Minister of State has been congratulated for emphasising the importance of open standards for inter-operability.
The Minister of State did not, as the question states, suggest a choice between open standards software and open source software. She simply pointed out that they were not the same thing and reiterated that, in keeping with procurement law, the Government operates a procurement policy that facilitates open competition, best value for money and best fit to requirements. Within that approach, different products, such as proprietary and open source, are evaluated on their merits, including openness in terms of future procurement and where possible, avoidance of lock-in to a particular supplier. Accordingly, an open view is taken which in practice tends to follow standards emerging from the market. Consequently, with respect to the costs of software, public bodies consider the total cost of ownership which, in addition to the licensing element, should include the issues and costs associated with development and customisation, deployment, warranties and maintenance, performance, security and reliability, management and support, upgrades, training and skills development.
