Detailed programme

08h00-09h00: REGISTRATION, COFFEE

09h00-10h00: OPENING SESSION

Keynote speakers

Frans Nauta Secretary of the Innovation Platform chaired by the Dutch Prime Minister

Colm Butler Director, Information Society Policy, Department of the Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Ireland

Background presentation

Rishab Aiyer Ghosh Programme Leader FLOSS, MERIT, University of Maastricht
"EU survey on free software in government: preliminary results"

The FLOSSPOLS project, supported by the European Union’s Sixth Framework IST Programme, conducts research on policy aspects of Free/Libre/Open Source Software, in particular the use of free software and open standards in government. This conference is organised as part of the FLOSSPOLS project, as is the first comprehensive EU-wide survey of government authorities on their usage of and attitudes towards open standards and free software. Preliminary results of the survey will be presented.

10h00-10h30: FOCUS SESSION: FREE SOFTWARE, WHY? THE EXTREMADURA CASE

Luis Casas Luengo Managing Director, FUNDECYT, Government of Extremadura, Spain
"Changing government and society with libre software"

The Extremadura Government launched its initiatives on libre software in 2002 as a key element of its strategy to take the region into the Information Society. The initiatives revolved around the development of a regional version of GNU/Linux (called gnu/LinEx) and its deployment together with other libre software in the educational system, the regional administration and regional businesses. LinEx has been deployed on 80 000 desktops in the public sector, and used as a basis to train 75 000 first-time computer users in a regional technology literacy programme. These policies resulted in Extremadura winning the EU Regional Innovation Award in 2004.
[download presentation] (pdf)

1030-1100: FOCUS SESSION: FREE SOFTWARE: HOW? GERMAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MIGRATION PLAN

Gregor Lietz EDS (Federal Interior Ministry contractor for the Migration Guide), Germany
"German Interior Ministry Migration Guide: The work must go on"

The first Migration Guide of the German Federal Ministry of Interior in June 2003 was an enormous success, initiating and influencing many open source migration projects in the public sector in Germany. The growing maturity of the Open Source Market and the rising discussion about software patents make it necessary to continue this work. The presentation describes the current status of the Migration Guide giving an outlook for his future development.
[download presentation] (pdf)

1100-1300: SESSION 1: EXPERIENCE AT THE EUROPEAN AND NATIONAL LEVEL

Session Chair: Agnès Bradier Deputy Head of Unit, eGovernment, European Commission
"Open Source policy in the EU"

The EU policy environment on Open Source is mainly active in adjacent policy areas like interoperability, eInclusion, eAccessibility and is less pronounced in public procurement. There is no overall EU Open Source policy. On the other hand, an increasing number of EU R&D activities take up and deploy Open Source. There is an increasing demand for EU policy in the area, considering the value of open standards, the discussion on benefits of migrating to Open Source, the need to correct market failure in the software market, and the considerable European legacy of Linux and related software development. There remain legitimate concerns about the sustainability of initial benefits and about fair competition and the competitive advantage created by innovation.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Mark Bressers Manager, Programme OSOSS, The Netherlands
"Dutch National Policy on Open Source Software"

In 2002, the Dutch Parliament passed a unanimous motion calling for the government to use only open standards by 2006, and to stimulate open source software within the public sector. In 2003, the Programme Open Standards and Open Source Software (OSOSS) was launched, financed by the ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations and ministry of Economic Affairs. This presentation will describe the national policy, the activities of the OSOSS Programme, the aims and instruments used and the experience so far, using real-life examples.
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Christian Hardy Ministry of Economics, Finance and Industry, France
"The French Administration’s migration to OpenOffice"

Using examples from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior, the presentation will show how Openoffice.org was introduced into the French Administration. It will include a description of the problems encountered, the reasons for these difficulties, proposals for next steps, and lessons learned on successful strategies for the introduction of OpenOffice. The presentation will conclude with the current position in the French Administration as a whole and the outlook for the coming year, taking into account the recent announcements from the office of the Prime Minister.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Thomas Myrup Kristensen Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Denmark
"Open Source policy and a Total Cost of Ownership study in Denmark"

A short overview of the Danish policy towards open source and open standards with descriptions of a number of pilot projects running open source on the desktop. Special emphasis will be placed on presenting the total cost of ownership (TCO) evaluation method carried out for Danish pilot projects.

Rolf Theodor Schuster Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Germany
"Securing Germany in the World, with Open Source"

In 2001 it seemed a very ambitious goal: getting well over 200 German embassies and consulates worldwide hooked up via secure e-mail to headquarters in Berlin, operating under tight budgetary constraints. Project plans foresaw 10 to 12 years to get the job done. Two years later every single German mission has not only secured e-mail, but also full access to a worldwide, secured intranet. The strategy: open mind, open standards, open source.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Giovanna Sissa Osservatorio Tecnologico of the Ministry of Research and Education, Italy
"Open Source Software in Education"

Since 1999, the Open Source Software has been one of the main topics of interest for the Italian Research & Education Ministry’s Osservatorio Tecnologico. This presentation describes how they support the introduction and management of Open Source software; identify best practice of Open source software in education; spread Open source principles for student, teacher and generic users. It will describe the introduction of open source into the school system and the Osservatorio’s guidelines for software choice.
[download presentation] (pdf)

1300-1400: LUNCH (PROVIDED BY THE CONFERENCE)

1400-1600: SESSION 2: EXPERIENCE AT THE REGIONAL/LOCAL LEVEL

Session Chair: Wilbert Stolte Vice-Mayor, City of Den Haag, The Netherlands
"Open Source in The Hague"

The Vice-Mayor of the City of Den Haag (The Hague) will describe the usage of open source in the city government, presenting their motivations, experiences and future plans.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Alasdair Mangham London Borough of Camden, United Kingdom
"How to buy what is free? Public sector procurement of open source"

How do you procure open source applications for the public sector? What are the differences between procuring an open source application and what kind of management skills need to be developed within the Public Sector Organisation to do this? The presentation will draw upon the experience of managing the procurement and development of several large scale open source applications in the London Borough of Camden to answer these questions.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Antonella Sfettina Province of Genova, Italy
"Libre Software in the Province of Genoa"

The province in Genoa decided to introduce the Libre Software philosophy within its organisation, in order to free citizens from the obligation to buy specific products to access government services, reuse government investments in software, increase competition and interoperability and support local SMEs. Of course, Libre Software also saves costs. The presentation describes Genoa’s involvement in libre software projects and its implementation of libre software on workstations, GIS software and other application areas.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Jan van de Straat City of Haarlem, The Netherlands
"Open Source in the city of Haarlem"

When an upgrade of Haarlem’s office software became imminent, they evaluated the option of moving from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. Their detailed studies proved that changing to Open Source software would save several hundred thousand Euros a year, without losing any functionality, and Haarlem initiated its migration to open source.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Robin Weissenberger City of Vienna, Austria
"Open Source on desktop in Vienna’s City Administration"

The City of Vienna has been using Open Source Software on central servers for about ten years. Due to their positive experience in this area, the EDP department of the City of Vienna has, since 2001, been monitoring the quality and availability of open source software for the desktop. The resulting feasibility study in August 2004 was the basis for the recommendation introducing open source on Vienna’s desktops. This presentation will describe the results and implementation plans.
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Flavia Marzano Union of Italian Provinces, Italy
"Italian and regional laws for libre software in government"

The presentation will discuss the role of the local public administration in the implementation of Italian and regional laws on free/libre/open source software. It will present actual experiences in implementing regulations, problems faced and opportunities for the future.
[download presentation] (pdf)

1600-1630: COFFEE BREAK

1630-1800: SESSION 3: INTEROPERABILITY AND OPEN STANDARDS

Session Chair: Bernhard Schnittger Head of Unit (acting), IDA, European Commission

Barbara Held Programme Manager, IDA, European Commission
"EU Interoperability Framework and Open Data Formats"

The European Interoperability Framework developed by IDA facilitates, at a pan-European level, the interoperability of services and systems between public administrations, as well as between administrations and the public (citizens, businesses). This presentation will provide details of the framework as well as related IDA activities on promoting open standards and open document exchange formats.
[download presentation] (pdf)

Mark Bressers Manager, Programme OSOSS, The Netherlands
"The Dutch Catalogue of Open Standards"

The Dutch Government’s Programme OSOSS has made a catalogue of open standards. This can be a reference for agencies that would like to buy and develop software based on open standards. This presentation will explain how this catalogue is developed and organised; what change management there is, and how this initiative is related to comparable initiatives like SAGA in Germany and e-Gif in the UK.
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Doug Heintzmann Director of Technical Strategy, IBM Software Group
"Implementing open standards in the public sector"

The presentation will discuss vendor independence as one of the main criteria for open standards. Using concrete examples, it will address the interoperability issues faced by public sector organisations in particular, and how they can and do implement open standards. Open source and open standards are distinct topics, and this presentation will address relations between the two.
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Phil Zamani, VP Europe, Linux Business Development & Sales, Novell
"Adopting Open Source based interoperability: learning from the private sector"

A vendor neutral overview of how public sector organisations can learn from how large corporations plan, decide, and implement their migration strategies to open source based solutions with a focus on maintaining interoperability. This will cover the adoption of hybrid proprietary and Open Source based software solutions and the main standards that are being supported by the relevant stakeholders such as end-user organisations, service providers, OEM's and ISVs.
[download presentation] (pdf)