Open-source in government can save [Canada] billions: group

On the eve of its 10-year anniversary, a Canadian advocacy group for open-source software in government says it's closer to achieving its goal: saving taxpayers $1 billion a year.

Getting Open Source Logic Into Government (GOSLING) is an Ottawa-based community of open-source enthusiasts dedicated to a freeing up the software market in the public sector. The Canadian government, they say, is spending $1.5 billion buying software that could cost only a third of that. The reason for the waste, according to the organization, is the disjointed, redundant development that takes place within departments.

Russell McOrmond, co-founder of GOSLING, says the issue is not one of adopting open source platforms, per se, but rather that of different government organizations sharing their software with one another. The procurement process has also been biased in favour of large vendors, he adds, stifling competition among Canadian enterprises...