New EU Software Rules Give FOSS the Inside Track

"New public procurement rules for technology issued by the EU encourages open specifications and open source software. Public administrations may decide to use less open options if open technologies don't exist or don't meet their functional interoperability needs. However, critics say the rules should include provisions for more funding for critical open source projects.

"The European Union has announced public procurement rules for technology that appear to favor open source.

"The European Interoperability Framework sets out interoperability standards to create a trusted information exchange between public administrations of member countries.

"The EIF encourages open specifications for the framework.

"Members of the Business Software Alliance, which offer proprietary software, are apparently contesting this provision."

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