[ossig] OSS master plan gets pruned

[Ditesh Kumar]

From
http://star-techcentral.com/tech/story.asp?file=/2006/12/5/technology/16187733&sec=technology

OSS master plan gets pruned

PETALING JAYA: It was a small change, the deletion of a single sentence
from the Open Source Master Plan. But the impact could be major to
companies that supply software to the Government. 

The master plan, launched in 2004, has remained unchanged until the
deletion was noticed by industry pundits last week, who then alerted
In.Tech. 

In its original form, the plan said: "OSS procurement should be based on
merits, value for money, transparency, security and interoperability, as
well as in accordance with the Government procurement policies and
procedures. In situations where the advantages and disadvantages of OSS
and proprietary software are equal, preference shall be given to OSS." 

The second sentence has been deleted, which implies that open-source
software no longer has an advantage in government procurement. 

Shift to neutral 

The deletion appears to be in line with the Government's adoption of a
neutral technology platform policy not favouring either open-source or
proprietary software.  

Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Jarjis, Science, Technology and Innovation
Minister, announced last week that the Cabinet had decided that
government procurement policies will now be based on merit and not
platform preference. 

"The Cabinet wants to encourage the further development of the local
(information technology) ecosystem with focus on value creation and it
is up to the market to decide which platform they choose," he said.  

"There has been a lot of negative reaction towards open source (from the
IT market) and that's why (choosing) the technology platform should be
neutral." 

Exactly when the deletion was made is unclear. 

Attempts to get a statement from the Cyberjaya-based Open Source
Competency Centre before press time was unsuccessful. 

The centre advises government agencies on open-source policy, standards
and guidelines, aside from other activities including workshops,
conferences, and awareness-raising programmes, as well as providing
technical support and training. 

 

A victory? 

OSS proponents were quick to play down the significance of the
deletion. 

Dinesh Nair, OSS advocate and QubeConnect chief software architect, said
the deletion might not mean much. "Rarely, if ever, do two competing
software solutions come out equal in a competitive evaluation of this
nature. So it is only a theoretical possibility but unlikely in practice
that the so-called ‘tiebreaker' favouring open-source software would
ever be invoked," he said. 

Dinesh suggested that vendors of proprietary software like Microsoft
Corp may claim a victory over OSS advocates, "but it really is a trivial
one." 

A Microsoft Malaysia spokesman said the company is heartened that the
Cabinet decided to adopt a neutral technology platform policy that does
not favour either open source software or proprietary software.