European Commission Funds Open Source

The Register is reporting today that the Consortium for Open Source in Public Administration (Cospa) has received 2.6 million in funds toward its total cost of 4 million to disseminate, promote and study open source solutions for European govermental bodies who seek more economical means for their technology programs.

The belief is that overall cost will be less and benefit greater than using proprietary solutions in some cases.

This has been a hotly debated topic in the US with advisory firms and think tanks arguing on both sides of the fence over if closed or open source software is more efficient, more economical and sustainable over the long term.

Regardless if you fall on either side of the argument, activities and organizations like this will certainly bring the proof and truth of open source viability to the surface. This author believes that both closed and open source solutions can co-exist and in some cases can be complimentary for difficult requirements.

I am convinced that one advantage open source has in evolving as a more robust and secure platform is certainly the wide open exposure of source code to the community at large to test and improve.

The story can be found at The Register.

COSPA can be found on the web here