<html><head> <meta name="description" content="Labor government would encourage open source " > <meta name="keywords" content="IT news it.mycareer.com.au Labor government would encourage open source A future Labor government would encourage the spread of open source through less restrictive procurement processes, that now lock in proprietary systems. " > <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;CHARSET=iso-8859-1"><link rel="stylesheet" href="/stylesheets/itnews.css" type="text/css"><title>Labor government would encourage open source: it.mycareer.com.au, Software</title></head><body bgcolor="#ffffff" leftmargin="0" marginwidth="0" topmargin="0" marginheight="0" link="#0033ff" vlink="#9900cc">
<a name="top" id="top"></a>
<IFRAME WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="26" MARGINWIDTH="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" FRAMEBORDER="0" SCROLLING="no" BORDERCOLOR="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff" SRC="http://images.ads.fairfax.com.au/cui/ITF.html"><SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1" SRC="http://images.ads.fairfax.com.au/cui/ITF.js"></SCRIPT></IFRAME> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr height="66"><td width="137"><a href="http://www.it.fairfax.com.au"><img src="/itnews_images/toplogo2.gif" width="137" height="66" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="IT News, home"></a></td><td align="right" background="/itnews_images/toplback1.gif" width="100%"> <IFRAME WIDTH="468" HEIGHT="60" MARGINWIDTH="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" FRAMEBORDER="0" SCROLLING="no" BORDERCOLOR="#000000" SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/html.ng/site=itnews&adspace=468x60&cat=news&loc=top"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1" SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/js.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=468x60&cat=news&loc=top"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/click.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=468x60&cat=news&loc=top"><IMG SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/image.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=468x60&cat=news&loc=top" HEIGHT="60" WIDTH="468" BORDER="0"></A> </NOSCRIPT> </IFRAME> </td></tr></table><table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr> <td bgcolor="#003366"><img src="/itnews_images/tag.gif" width="308" height="15" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="news from the world of information technology"></td> <td align="right" bgcolor="#003366"><font color="#cccccc"><nobr><span class="date"> </span></nobr></font></td></tr></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr bgcolor="#124578"><td width="471"><a href="/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_hom1.gif" width="77" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="home"></a><a href="/news/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_news2.gif" width="75" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="news" /></a><a href="http://www.mycareer.com.au/ITCalendar/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_eve1.gif" width="77" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="events"></a><a href="/techlife/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_tec1.gif" width="83" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="tech life"></a><a href="/opinion/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_opi1.gif" width="84" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="opinion"></a><a href="/jobs/"><img src="/itnews_images/b_job1.gif" width="75" height="20" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="jobs"></a></td><td align="right"><a href="/contact/"><font color="#cccccc"><span class="date"><nobr>contact us</nobr></span></font> </a></td></tr></table><table border="0" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr bgcolor="#B8CADB"> <td><img src="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" width="50" height="1" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left"></td> <td width="100%"><nobr><img src="/itnews_images/arro_trans.gif" width="9" height="10" border="0" > <a href="/news/">all news</a></nobr> | <nobr><a href="/breaking/">breaking news</a></nobr></td></tr></table><table border="0" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td><a href="/">home</a> >> <a href="/news/">all news</a> >> article</td></tr></table><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="20%" align="right"><tr><td width="145"> <IFRAME WIDTH="125" HEIGHT="125" MARGINWIDTH="0" MARGINHEIGHT="0" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" FRAMEBORDER="0" SCROLLING="no" BORDERCOLOR="#000000" SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/html.ng/site=itnews&adspace=125x125&cat=news&loc=right"> <SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript1.1" SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/js.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=125x125&cat=news&loc=right"> </SCRIPT> <NOSCRIPT> <A HREF="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/click.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=125x125&cat=news&loc=right"><IMG SRC="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/image.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=125x125&cat=news&loc=right" HEIGHT="125" WIDTH="125" BORDER="0"></A> </NOSCRIPT> </IFRAME> <br><br><p><img src="/itnews_images/t_read.gif" width="145" height="17" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="top" alt="Also read ..." ><br> <a href="/news/2001/07/10/FFXERTCUSOC.html">Virtual take-off leaves fears on the ground</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/07/10/FFXGCVCUSOC.html">Cash-flow gurus take their software to the world</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/07/03/FFX2FKDHJOC.html">Big still beautiful for Bill</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/07/03/FFXL82V4NOC.html">NZ e-commerce, software importers face new tax</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/26/FFX6CXS4DOC.html">Piracy truce nets 600 companies</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/26/FFX59SGU8OC.html">XP alarms MS critics</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/26/FFXBQUS4DOC.html">Microsoft calls tune</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/21/FFX67QGU8OC.html">Express upgrade with Windows XP</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/19/FFX687EUYNC.html">Oracle declares database price war against IBM and Microsoft</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/2001/06/12/FFX5KZAUONC.html">Microsoft poised for instant messaging</a><BR><IMG SRC="/itnews_images/1pix.gif" WIDTH="1" HEIGHT="7"><BR> <a href="/news/">read more articles</a> </p><p></p><form action="http://itjobs.mycareer.com.au/employasp/frames.asp?start=search" method="post" name="search">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="145" bgcolor="#ff7f00">
<tr bgcolor="#ff7f00">
<td><a href="http://www.itjobs.fairfax.com.au/" target="_blank"><img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/itjobs.gif" width="145" height="40" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="top" alt="IT Job Search below" /></a></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ff7f00">
<td>
<table border="0" align="middle" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="145" bgcolor="#ff7f00">
<tr>
<td>
<input name="fromNavigate" type="hidden" value="1" />
<input name="perpage" type="hidden" value="25" />
<input name="days" type="hidden" value="28" />
<input name="sort_field" type="hidden" value="6" />
<input name="sort_order" type="hidden" value="1" />
<input name="senior_position" type="hidden" value="D" />
<input name="affinity" type="hidden" value="*" />
<input name="category_description" type="hidden" value="Computing and IT;" />
<input type="hidden" name="category" value="3" />
<img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/jobsearch.gif" width="66" height="11" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="IT Job Search " /></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#ff7f00">
<td valign="bottom">
<input type="text" name="keywords" size="9" />
<input name="search" type="submit" value="go!" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<p></p> <form action="http://members.f2.com.au/members/subscribeFrame.gsp" method="post" name="form_subscribe">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="140" bgcolor="#007bf7">
<tr>
<td valign="top" bgcolor="#007bf7"><img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/ani.gif" width="145" height="40" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="top" alt="Subscribe to the IT Newsletter below" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#007bf7">
<table border="0" align="middle" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" width="145" bgcolor="#007bf7">
<tr>
<td>
<input size=8 name="userEmail" type="text" value="your email" />
<input type="hidden" name="newsId" value="11" />
<input type="hidden" name="defaultNews" value="Technology" />
<input type="submit" value="go!" name="submit" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</form><p></p><p></p><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="145">
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#B8C7D6" colspan="2"><img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" width="15" height="15"
alt="Multimedia" border="0" align="absmiddle"> <font
size="-1"><b>M u l t i m e d i a</b></font></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4259&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4259&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">One.Tel Auction</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4214&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4214&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">AIBO the AI dog</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4147&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4147&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">The "smart home" is coming</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4112&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4112&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">Sewing with Game Boy</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4078"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4078"><font
size="-1">Hugh on being a Hacker man</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4111&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4111&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">Game Boy Advance</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4054"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4054"><font
size="-1">Swordfish :Hugh
Jackman</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=2189&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=2189&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">Office design</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4025"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#DBE3EA"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=4025"><font
size="-1">One.Tel co-founder Jodee Rich talks assets.</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=3919&skin=itnews"
target="_top"><img height="15" width="16" src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/video.gif" border="0" alt="You
need realplayer to experience video"/></a></td>
<td bgcolor="#eeeeee"><a href="http://media1.f2.com.au/ramgen.asp?fileid=3919&skin=itnews"><font
size="-1">Liz Knight on Onetel</font></a></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#DBE3EA">
<td> </td>
<td>
<div align="right"><a href="http://it.mycareer.com.au/media/"><img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/moremulti.gif" width="75" height="9" border="0" alt="More Multimedia"></a></div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#B8C7D6" colspan="2"><img
src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/plugin.gif" width="81" height="11" alt="A plug in is required" border="0"
align="absmiddle"><a href="http://media1.fairfax.com.au/common/help/realhelp.asp"><br
/>
<img src="http://it.mycareer.com.au/itnews_images/media/realplayer.gif" width="55" height="17" alt="Click here to get Realplayer" border="0"
align="absmiddle"></a><br>
<center>
<!-- AdSpace <iframe width=118 height=40 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0
frameborder=0 scrolling=no bordercolor="#000000"
src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/html.ng/site=itnews&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ctype=index&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cat=home&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;adspace=118x40&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;loc=left" target="_top">
<script language="JavaScript1.1"
src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/js.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;site=itnews&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ctype=index&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cat=home&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;adspace=118x40&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;loc=left">
</script>
<noscript> <a href="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/click.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;site=itnews&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ctype=index&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cat=home&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;adspace=118x40&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;loc=left">
<img border="0" alt=""
src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/image.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;site=itnews&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;ctype=index&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;cat=home&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;adspace=118x40&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;loc=left"></a>
</noscript> </iframe> -->
</center>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p></p></td></tr></table><table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" border="0" width="75%"><tr><td width="100%"><table cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="right"><tr><td align="right"></td></tr></table><span class="bighead">Labor government would encourage open source</span><br>Tuesday 10 July, 2001<br>By NATHAN COCHRANE<p></p><p>A future Labor government would encourage the spread of open source through less restrictive procurement processes, that now lock in proprietary systems.</p>
<p>But the federal IT and Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, said this could open a government to litigation.</p>
<p>Patrick Bindon, press secretary for Carmen Lawrence, the shadow minister for industry, innovation and technology, said the ALP supported more use of systems such as the Linux desktop and Apache server because they spur innovation and cut costs.</p>
<p>He said it would make sense to use open source in schools because it better exposes students to technology.</p>
<p>Government should take a leadership role to show the viability of non-proprietary systems through its procurement processes, he said.</p>
<p>"And to encourage agencies to adopt open source applications and processes, so cost to government is reduced and it's involved directly in developing a domestic open source industry," he said.</p>
<p> <!---the big ad--->
<table cellpading="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" align="right" width="300">
<tr>
<td><img src="/itnews_images/ad1.gif" width="96" height="9" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="left" alt="advertisement"/></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td bgcolor="#003366" align="center" valign="middle">
<!-- AdSpace -->
<iframe width="300" height="250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" bordercolor="#000000" src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/html.ng/site=itnews&adspace=300x250&cat=news&loc=top&ctype=story">
<script language="JavaScript1.1" src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/js.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=300x250&cat=news&loc=top&ctype=story">
</script>
<noscript>
<a href="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/click.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=300x250&cat=news&loc=top&ctype=story"><img src="http://campaigns.f2.com.au/image.ng/Params.richmedia=yes&site=itnews&adspace=300x250&cat=news&loc=top&ctype=story" height="300" width="250" border="0"></a>
</noscript>
</iframe>
<!-- /AdSpace -->
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><img src="/itnews_images/ad1.gif" width="96" height="9" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="right" alt="advertisement"/><td>
</tr>
</table><!---end big ad--->
<!---end big ad--->
Senator Alston said the coalition government would not revisit its buying processes to promote open source solutions if it was re-elected.</p>
<p>He was speaking after the Melbourne meeting of the Online Council, a gathering of local government representatives and state and federal ministers, to discuss national IT strategies, such as the accelerated integration of government websites.</p>
<p>Alston said the federal government had "binding legal contracts" with suppliers that would open it to legal action if they were varied in any way to include open source systems.</p>
<p>"We don't want a variety of different set-top boxes," Alston said. "It's more a matter of making sure the competitive regime is effective than it is to get in there and second guess. It sounds to me as though it's a grandstand rather than a serious policy."</p>
<p>Victorian Linux users were generally supportive but sceptical of plans to encourage government to buy open source.</p>
<p>Analyst-programmer Chris Marsh said he would vote Labor if it could demonstrate support for open source systems, otherwise it was just a whitewash.</p>
<p>"Companies proposing open source systems would need to know that they will be in the running," Marsh said.</p>
<p>Labor would also have Brunswick Debian Project member Glen McGrath's vote if its actions lived up to rhetoric.</p>
<p>"I think government should see free software as a form of infrastructure, like roads or a reliable electricity supply," McGrath said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Australian Domain name Authority (AuDA) will look at a NSW Government proposal for a community-based geographic second level domain name system that uses place names on a state and territory system.</p>
<p></p><p><a href="/news/">more news</a>.</p></td></tr><tr> <td><p><a href="#top"><img src="/itnews_images/top.gif" width="70" height="14" hspace="0" vspace="0" border="0" align="middle" alt="go to top"></a></p></td>
</tr></table><BR CLEAR="ALL"><table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
<tr> <td> <hr width="80%"> <div align="center"><a href="http://itjobs.mycareer.com.au/default.asp?start=/elements/itnews/copyright_disclaim.html">Copyright © f2.com.au 2001</a>. All Rights Reserved. <br><a href="http://www.members.f2.com.au/help/privacy_policy.html">Our Privacy Policy</a></div> </td>
</tr>
</table>
<script language="JavaScript"><!--
var w0=1;
//--></script>
<script language="JavaScript1.1"><!--
var w0=0;
//--></script>
<script language="JavaScript1.1" src="http://server-au.imrworldwide.com/a0.js">
</script>
<script language="JavaScript"><!--
if(w0) {
var imgN='<img src="http://server-au.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/count" width=1 height=1>';
if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Mac')!=-1){document.write(imgN);}
else{document.write('<applet code="Measure.class" codebase="http://server-au.imrworldwide.com/" width=1 height=2><textflow>'+imgN+'</textflow></applet>');}
}
document.write("<COMMENT>");
//-->
</script>
<noscript>
<img src="http://server-au.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/count" width=1 height=1>
</noscript>
</COMMENT> </body></html>