U.K. Government To Embrace More Open Source Software

The British government is planning on increasing the amount of open source software used in public services.

The British government has said that open source software will be adopted for public services "when it delivers best value for money," and that public services should avoid being “locked into proprietary software,” according to the BBC.

The move could reportedly save the government $900 million a year, and is part of a wave of open source moves by governments around the globe, said Simon Phipps, chief open source officer for Sun Microsystems.

"We waste a fortune on proprietary computer software because of paying for licenses and promises up front and not demanding value."

Cost isn’t the only reason. A number of government projects using proprietary software have had publicized failures in recent years. Under the new open source standards plan, government departments will have to adopt open source software when "there is no significant overall cost difference between open and non-open source product."