[Linux-aus] Acquisition of Open Source Software paper for Public and Semi Public sector in Netherlands

[Arjen Lentz]

Hi Kanchana,

On 09/04/2008, at 10:23 PM, Kanchana Wickremasinghe wrote:
> In case if you have not seen this before:
>
> I am yet to read it, however I thought might be worth sharing.
>
> www.ossos.nl/files/acquisition_of_open-source_software_-_text.pdf


Interesting, thanks for that. Only had a quick browse but it appears  
to be fairly clued in and well written; and the intro is signed by the  
Dutch chief procudement officer (govt). That's good.

What I saw specifically missing from the factors taken into  
consideration during procurement: decommissioning (and its cost). This  
is a key factor that makes the AGIMO guidelines intrinsically equalise  
(not prefer, and this is important!) the field for open source, or  
rather, open standards.

The Dutch document does go heavily into open standards and may thus  
effect the same result, but (although I couldn't think of a specific  
example, off-hand) it's possible that even with an open standard, a  
certain product could still have higher decommissioning costs. Anyone  
here have thoughts or examples on that?

Anyway, I wrote a note (in Dutch) on the OSOSS web site, we'll see if  
I get a response; I noted that I was a director of OSIA.

Regards,
Arjen.
-- 
Arjen Lentz, Owner @ Open Query (http://openquery.com.au/)
Based in Brisbane, Australia - ph. +61-7-3103 0809
Open Source Experts, MySQL Specialists

Director of OSIA (http://osia.net.au/) Open Source Industry Australia
Australia's industry body for OSS - be counted!