Norway throws weight behind open-source

The move is part of a massive restructuring of IT in Norway's public sector

By John Blau

June 29, 2005 12:00 PM ET

IDG News Service - Norwegian Minister for Modernization Morton Andreas Meyer is asking all government institutions in the sparsely populated Nordic country to have a plan in place for the use of open-source software by the end of 2006.
Without specifically mentioning Microsoft Corp., Meyer, who is responsible for the Norwegian government's IT policy, said earlier this week at a news conference in Oslo that "proprietary formats will no longer be acceptable in communication between citizens and government."
Meyer referred to the "spreadsheet almost everyone uses" and said this would be the last time he made a presentation available online with proprietary media software. The comments made at the conference, which focused on an initiative to digitize communications between citizens and government, were confirmed by ministry spokesman Jan-Egil Nyland.
The initiative calls for a massive restructuring of IT in Norway's public sector at both the national and local levels. In addition to the use of open-source software, one goal is to provide all citizens with their own home pages for communication with the government. In the process, every Norwegian citizen will be provided with a personal electronic ID as a replacement for the numerous user identifications and passwords currently used.
"We plan to offer everyone a home page by the end of this year," Nyland said.
While not entirely abandoning Microsoft entirely, several European governments, including Germany, France and the U.K., have introduced programs to support the use of open-source software, particularly the Linux operating system, in the public sector.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

Differentiating With Technical Support: JBoss Customer Support Study
JBoss' expert technical support services is clearly acknowledged by its client base. The comprehensive nature by which their service is unsurpassed. Every category...

Managing And Protecting Your Ever Increasing Mobile Assets
(Source: Absolute Software) Your users are becoming more mobile each day. This is great for productivity - yet challenging for IT control. Natalie...

The JBoss SOA Assessment Tool: Spend Less, Do More
SOA does not have to be overly complex or expensive. The JBoss SOA Assessment Tool can help you chart a course to a...

IDC Webcast: Linux Adoption in a Global Recession
Join Al Gillen from IDC and Michael Applebaum from Novell in this on-demand webcast to see how Linux has emerged as an even...

The CIO's New Guide to Design of Global IT Infrastructure
Is it possible to eliminate the impact of distance? This paper explores the 5 key principles successful CIOs are using to redesign IT...

Novell Opens PR Video
Is the Linux desktop for me? Customers are looking for ways to be more flexible and save money. Using Linux offers a great...

IBM Lotus Notes Performance Brief
This is a Performance Brief that illustrates how Riverbed Steelhead appliances accelerate Lotus Notes R7....

2 Minutes to IT workload automation
Take just 2 minutes to watch this short CONTROL-M flash video. Well show you how BMC CONTROL-M can put money back into your...

Business Value of Performance IDC Whitepaper
Are you looking for a comprehensive solution that addresses insufficient or congested bandwidth, impaired application performance, slow remote backup and replication or obstacles...

Security Configuration Management
In this web video, follow along with Jim Hansen, Senior Product Manager with Big Fix, as he explains why Security Configuration Management is...

All White Papers | All Webcasts