“Cabinet approved a policy and strategy for the implementation of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in government. All new software developed for or by the Government will be based on open standards and government will itself migrate current software to FOSS. This strategy will, among other things, lower administration costs and enhance local Information Technology (IT) skills. The meeting noted that all the major IT vendors in the country have both supported the initiative and made contributions to the development of FOSS. Government departments will incorporate FOSS in their planning henceforth. By April 2007, a project office will be set up by the Department of Science and Technology, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to ensure smooth implementation of FOSS throughout the country.”
Tag: Policy
SA Gov FOSS Policy Annex A: Policy on Free and Open Source Software Use for South African Government
Published in August 2006 by the National Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). It outlines the background leading up to the approval of the policy.
SA Gov FOSS Policy Annex C: Multi-Stakeholder Conference Declaration
Annex C of the approved FOSS Policy for South African Government.
Policy and Strategy Recommendations to the Presidential National Commission of South Africa – 5 Jan 2004
These recommendations followed after the National Cabinet approval in August 2003 on the policy on OSS. These recommendations proposed a set of policy enhancements to shift the overall policy posture from one that was neutral-to-enabling to one that was enabling-to-proactive. They also incorporated Open Content into the policy and brought to the fore important issues around intellectual property rights and Open Standards.
Open Software and Open Standards in South Africa to Address Digital Divide by Open Software Working Group – Jan 2002
The National Advisory Council on Innovation is a body set up by South African Act of Parliament to advise the Minister of Arts Culture Science and Technology, as well as Cabinet as a whole, on Science and Technology issues. They formulated these recommendations which included non-negotiable open standards as well as a FOSS policy encouraging the use of FOSS and ensuring a level playing field between FOSS and proprietary software with regards to procurement.