An Open Source Vision white paper has been presented by the Malta Information Technology Agency with the aim of nurturing the proliferation of open source software.

Opening the 22nd National Information Society Advisory Council (NISCO) meeting at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt said the government was confidently able to take a more constructive stance towards OSS since the market has now reached acceptable levels of maturity.

The 10-year Digital Agenda launched earlier this year by the European Commission promoted open and interoperable products and services and urged for more and better open standards recognised and created in Europe.

Earlier this year, MITA published policies and directives aimed at guiding ministries and other entities specifically on the adoption of Open Standards and the facilitation of non-intrusive adoption of OSS within the government.

Dr Gatt clarified that the adoption of Open Standards was mandated across the government whereas open source software had to be considered properly on a level playing field with proprietary software.

MITA chairman Claudio Grech spoke about the reasons behind the government’s compliance with open standards and, when it was the best solution, procure OSS.

“When we procure ICT solutions for Government, we do so with a strategic vision and with long-term planning so we go for the best value for money. It is crucial that where possible and where the business needs are similar, we are able to share and re-use these ICT solutions across the public sector.”

As a major ICT buyer in the local market, the government could not afford to have disjointed solutions which required major investment to ensure interoperability later on.

Feedback on the Open Source Software white paper on may be submitted by November 30 at oss.mita@gov.mt.

The white paper may be read in the pdf file below.

http://www.mita.gov.mt/consultations