European open source industry associations have welcomed the newly updated open source strategy of the European Commission. Closely matched statements were published by the Association Professionnelle Européenne du Logiciel Libre (APELL), a newly formed umbrella organisation, and its three founding members in Finland, France and Germany.
“The commitments made in the strategy clearly indicate that thinking around open source has matured beyond cost savings in IT, to understand it as a strategic catalyst,” APELL wrote. The group added that it ”looks forward to being an active contributor to the deepening of knowledge and understanding of Open Source within the European Commission and beyond.”
France’s Union des Entreprises du Logiciel Libre et du Numérique Ouvert (CNLL), representing some 300 free and open source software companies, added it was “happy to contribute to the deepening of knowledge and understanding within the European Commission of all dimensions of open source.”
Germany’s Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA) says it has “high hopes for the Commission's initiative as it provides an excellent opportunity to set a good example to Member States.”
Think tank
OpenForum Europe, a think tank closely involved in the setting up of APELL, said that with the new strategy “the Commission positions itself at the forefront of Digital Government with a clear focus on openness as a driver for innovation, digital autonomy and a focus on citizens and users.”
The InnerSource Commons – a network of professionals and researchers around InnerSource (the application of Open Source principles and practices in organisations) also welcomed the Commission’s revamped open source software strategy. The group said: ”Teams adopting a culture of InnerSource can accelerate active open source corporate participation. We fully support the intention to set InnerSource as a default way of working in order to bring teams closer to open source working methods and to encourage sharing and reuse within the organisation. We agree that InnerSource can be instrumental to the success of [the EC strategy].”
Free software activists in France and Germany were less pleased. In Berlin, the FSFE said the document “lacks concrete targets and indicators to implement the strategy.” Similarly, France’s free software group April said that it would have liked more details.
Communication
The Commission published an updated version of its internal open source strategy on 21 October, this time as a Communication to the Commission. In an announcement, the Commission called the Communication “an important step towards achieving the goals of the overarching Digital Strategy of the Commission and contributing to the Digital Europe programme.”
More information:
APELL press release
CNLL press release (in French)
OSBA press release (in German)
OFE press release
COSS news item (in Finnish)
April press release (in French)
FSFE press release
Announcement of the new strategy
Open source strategy 2020-2023 (PDF)