01631nas a2200121   4500008004100000022001400041245004600055210004200101260004200143520126800185100002001453856003601473       2009                        eng d  a1913-610200aThe Steady March of the European Penguins0 aSteady March of the European Penguins  aOttawabTalent First Networkc05/20093 aOpen source licenses allow public administrations to change, share and re-use their applications freely. Open standards allow for connectivity and interoperability between the applications. For a wider use of open source software by public administrations, it is equally important to require the use of open standards in the public sector. Open source projects can face difficulties when using proprietary standards, especially if these latter require usage royalties.

The member states of the European Union made steady progress in 2008 in developing information technology policies on open source and open standards. Spain and France have taken the lead, yet in all EU member states examples of administrations using open source software can be found. Europe's competition commissioner Neelie Kroes warned the EU's institutions to follow suit and use open standards: "I know a smart business decision when I see one".

This article provides an overview of the advancements and some of the setbacks of the implementation of open source and open standards by public administrations in the 27 member states of the European Union in 2008. It is mostly based on the news items the author wrote for the European Union's Open Source Observatory and Repository.
 1 aHillenius, Gijs  uhttp://timreview.ca/article/249