In Luxembourg a non profit organisation meant to increase the use of Open Source software is to be created later this month.
The as yet unnamed organisation is the initiative of the Free and Open Source Innovation platform at Luxembourg's Public Research Centre Henri Tudor and other organisations and individuals. The research centre seven years ago began organising an annual Linux conference, 'LinuxDays Luxembourg'.
"Over time we developed strong ties with businesses taking part in our Open Source projects", explains George Schutz, one of the scientists at the Tudor research centre. "Our platform matured, and so we decided to begin a non profit organisation, to exchange best practises, to share experiences and interests, to signal and create business opportunities and activities and to launch Open Source initiatives in Luxembourg."
According to Schutz, a first consultative meeting with all the potential founding members will be held this month. "Our research centre for now is only proposing some of the ideas." The founding members will have to agree, set up the bylaws and formally begin the organisation.
He says public administration in Luxembourg have showed interest in the new organisation. If and how they would be involved depends on the kind of organisation that is created.
The Henri Tudor research centre in 2005 conducted a small survey to find out how many public administration were aware of Open Source software. "The result was surprisingly positive," Schutz says. Many public administrations had considerable knowledge and use of this type of software. "We've never made that survey public, as it dealt with a lot of IT details. But now would be a good moment to update it, and find out how public administrations now value Open Source."
The research centre is organising the next annual LinuxDay conference on February 19 and 20.
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News item in L'Essentiel (French)