Director General for IT in the European Commission
The European Commission makes great use of free and open source software, and it is time we give this more visibility.
Strategy for internal use of OSS at the EC
Free and open source software is used for over a thousand of Commission's servers. It runs behind many of the Commission’s websites, including those of the European Commissioners and the Commission's Representations in Member States. Open source is behind the secure authentication of over 300 web applications, which are used by tens of thousands of users, daily. Free and open source tools are the choice of many of our own software developers. A high number of the software solutions we build with Member States are shared as open source, including ePrior (an e-procurement solution), eTrustex (an application used to exchange large documents in a secure way) and the European Citizens’ Initiative, published under our own European Union Public Licence.
Digital Agenda for Europe
Free and open source software allows us to build, share and reuse modern government services. ICT openness is crucial in a society becoming rapidly digital and, at the same time, it is a key contribution to an efficient and performant development of digital services. Openness in ICT empowers us to learn from the experiences of other administrations, allows us to exchange best practices and build ICT solutions that can be used across Member States.
The OSOR
Public administrations across the EU affirm that open source helps save costs. The evidence is steadily aggregating at our own Open Source Observatory and Repository. Greater use of this type of software solutions nurtures a new generation of European ICT service providers. That is another important motivation to promote open source in our internal ICT policy. It is also why, when procuring software solutions, we will consider open source alongside proprietary alternatives.
Some fine print: The European Commission promotes wider use of free and open source solutions and reinvigorating our open source policy is our first step. We want to make it easier for our own software developers to submit patches and new functionalities to open source projects. Contributing to open source is now added to our policy and we are clarifying legal aspects of code contribution, including intellectual property rights and copyright.
Through DIGIT: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/informatics/index_en.htm
