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Computerworld - European Union member states are among the most aggressive in adopting open-source software. In Germany, 12% of the desktops in the public sector use open-source software, for example. Why? Philippe Aigrain, head of the software technologies sector for the European Commission, responded to Computerworld's questions in an interview conducted via e-mail.

What is the assessment and outlook on the use of open-source software by EU governments? In almost all EU countries, use of open source has become an issue on the government agenda. In some countries there are explicit policies, implemented in general through central government IT or e-government agencies. This is the case for instance in Germany, in France, in the U.K. and in Italy. Other countries are doing preliminary studies or implementing pilot experiments. Regions and local governments are also very active. Those countries implementing direct policies use a variety of instruments:

• Guidelines to, and exchange of experiences between, administrations that wish to develop usage of open source;


• Emphasis on standards for which open-source implementations exist; and


• Tendering of components of open source for some layers (for example, cryptography and applications in Germany).

How diverse is open source in Europe? In terms of usage rates, there is a wide diversity. A survey [the Free/Libre Open Source Software Study, or FLOSS, conducted by the International Institute of Infonomics] that we have sponsored has found that current and directly planned use in the German public sector ranges from 44% for small establishments to 69% in large establishments, while the comparable figures are 16% to 23% in Sweden. These figures follow closely the figures for the private-sector usage. One should be cautious when interpreting them: They do not represent the share of open-source software compared to proprietary software, but only the percentage of establishments consciously using open-source software in parts of their IT infrastructure. But as much as 12% of German establishments [companies and public-sector agencies] have open-source software on the desktop.

What is the EU's role in supporting open source? And why is it providing this support? There is no single reason why EU is supporting open source in a variety of activities. The research programs do it because of its value as an innovation mechanism, because of the strong open-source developers base in Europe, and because of the potential for setting standards that favor the general development of IT. In programs such as e-Europe, some actions explicitly mention open source because of its potential for inclusion, education and user empowerment. Finally, programs such as the program on Interchange of Data Between Administrations