The use of open source software is fundamental to a sustainable and technologically independent development, says Rafael Martín Espada, Director General of ICT at the regional government of Extremadura.

"We have a long list of recommendations that we are willing to share with all administrations that are considering open source", Espada said on 29 November 2009 at a seminar in Brussels.

The region for instance advises to take fiscal measures to promote the creation of open source business. "Make its adoption a priority for public administrations. Use open source when you are organising electronic polls, stress its use in your development strategy and build demo centres to increase the trust in this type of software."

Espada said Extremadura's government will continue to push open source software as a tool to develop the region.

This year it has started centres for software excellence, where open source applications can be tested and certified. "Our GNU/Linex Excellence Centre is to become a point of reference for those companies that want to migrate their development to that platform."

The regional ministry of Economy, Commerce and Innovation began in 2009 'Vivernet', a centre to support small and medium sized enterprises in their use of free and open source software. "It is an advisory body, that works with entrepreneurs who want to start-up innovative IT projects."

The regional government also started on the same year the Extremadura Supercomputing Centre, which should increase collaboration between research centres and business in the region, said Espada.

The CIO of the autonomous region was one of the speakers at a meeting on the use of open source software in public administrations, organised on 19 November 2009 by the Regional Office of Extremadura in Brussels, at the Committee of the Regions.

"It seems that public administration is a sector where open source has great difficulty to gain a foothold, because of vested interests, vendor lock-in and the use of many legacy applications. That is true even in Extremadura, but we are making progress. Open source allows collaboration, and that is a key factor of this new economy."

 

Further information: 

• Original news article - OSOR.EU