Australian government publishes version 2 of open source guide for public sector

Version 2 of the ‘Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies’ has become available following an online public consultation on the draft document which was initiated by the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), according to OSOR.

In March 2011 Glenn Archer, AGIMO first assistant secretary, requested feedback via the dedicated blog on the draft ‘Guide to Open Source Software’. The ‘Guide to Open Source Software for Australian Government Agencies’ was revised and finalised following public feedback. It provides an introduction to open source software (OSS), plus background information on the risks and benefits of using, distributing and developing OSS and guidance to assist agencies understand, analyse, plan for and deploy OSS.

Changes to the guide include the following:

• clarifying the focus of the guide;
• providing linkages, where appropriate, between AGIMO and other government documents as well as to other OSS products;
• highlighting the ‘Guide to ICT Sourcing and the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines’ in the document as it contains Australian Government information on procurement processes.

Some of the feedback received related to the Open Source Software Policy. The policy was released in January 2011 and it has been reproduced in the guide for ease of reading. AGIMO will continue to monitor the effectiveness of the policy and update it as appropriate.

Ann Steward, Australian Government Chief Information Officer (CIO), commented on the AGIMO blog that she was very pleased with the public input.

When is the UK going to see a similar ‘crowdsourcing’ exercise by HM government? Don’t hold your breath! 😉