Industry news

UK's open source adoption slower than others, says body

Open sourcing in the UK is dragging its heels when compared to other countries, it has been reported.

Despite being established as the best way to produce and consume software, up to 90 per cent of public administrations are locked into certain vendors, according to OpenForum Europe.

Graham Taylor, the industry body's director, told the Open Source Forum in London that the UK is behind Europe in the use of the development methodology, reports Silicon.com.

"This is because [firms] have committed to applications which are not supported on other operating systems, or have no way of moving their data to other application," he added.

However the movement is "no longer the anti-software-industry establishment" but more so the "software-industry establishment", he concluded.

Meanwhile, earlier this month Gartner predicted the IT sector would not only avoid the backlash of the current economic climate but it would benefit from it.

Its vice president told IT Week: "This time IT is nowhere near the epicentre and it gives IT an opportunity to get its ideas through the door."