The use of Free and Open Source Software in Guyana's Public Service


Key points in the Statement to the Commission of Inquiry into Public Service to be made on 7 October 2015

Theme : The use of Free and Open Source Software to improve the efficiency of the public service in the discharge of their duties to the general public.

The headline in the Guyana Chronicle of 24 September, 2015 which told Guyana and the world “Public service technicians ‘hack and steal’ software –because previous govt refused to buy them” was shocking. The headline drew attention dilemma which had been faced by Information Technology support technicians in the Government when they had to give unlicensed software to other public servants.

As a Guyanese citizen, I am moved to testify to this Commission of Inquiry that public servants in Guyana have options to choose free and open source software(FOSS) to support their tasks. No public servant in Guyana has any reason to use pirated software. I have a degree in Computer Science and have been an active user of FOSS for over a decade.

The Government of Guyana at various levels is probably the largest user of information technology in Guyana . The costs of information technology usage are typically related costs of IT staff, hardware procurement and maintenance, ongoing training to improve efficiency and the costs associated with software procurement.

Free and Open Source Software refers generally to a body of software which is available for free distribution, re-use and modification. Software is developed with source code. Depending on the programming language, the source code is then compiled into an executable form which is distributed to the user. The programmer or manufacturer would be required to make the changes and then redistribute any updates or fixes.

The licenses for free and open source software are different from the licences for what is termed proprietary software. The users are usually dependent on the vendors of proprietary software for updates, modifications, etc. There could be restrictions on the number of installations, etc.

Free Software (http://www.fsf.org/) has for these freedoms :-
  • The freedom to run a program, for any purpose;
  • The freedom to study how a program works and adapt it to a person’s needs. Access to the source code is a precondition for this;
  • The freedom to redistribute copies so that you can help your neighbour; and
  • The freedom to improve a program and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits. Access to the source code is a precondition for this
Open Source Software (defined by the Open Source Initiative at http://opensource.org/ ) refers to software with licenses which have the following features :-

  • Free redistribution
  • Source code is available
  • Derived works must be covered by a similar license
  • Integrity of author's code must be preserved
  • No discrimination against users
  • No discrimination against fields of endeavour
  • Distribution of license
  • License must be technology-neutral
  • License must not be specific to a product
  • License must not restrict other software
A significant amount of Free and Open Source Software is available free of cost.

Types of FOSS available
If I was an IT support technician in the public service, and my Permanent Secretary needed a word processor, I would be able to provide LibreOffice or OpenOffice without any infringement of any intellectual property rights.

There are many other free and open source software applications.

Web browsers – Mozilla Firefox (probably already in use on many computers), Opera
Word processing , spreadsheet, presentations – Open Office, LibreOffice
Email – Mozilla Thunderbird
Multimedia players - VLC
Graphics – GIMP, Blender, Inkscape
Geographic Information Systems – qGIS
Content Management Systems – Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla ( Many governmetn websites are using these )
Operating systems – Linux, BSD, etc

Any public servant who is interested in moving towards legal use of software should utilise the excellent compilation of open source software for the Windows operating system available from the Trinidad & Tobago Computer Society at http://www.ttcsweb.org/osswin-dvd/

In addition, there is software available to support systems with much larger scope . Some examples are :-

School Records – School Tool
For health workforce management - iHRIS
For national Archives (to support digitisation)– Ica-to-Atom, Xena (already developed with international archiving standards )
for Library Catalogues – Koha - (already in use at the University of Guyana, and some public sector agencies)

Guyana's Geoserver Portal which is sharing maps and other related data has been developed with open source software.


Advantages of FOSS

  • Security since vulnerabilities can be fixed
  • Reliability/Stability – bugs, and errors could be fixed
  • Open standards and vendor independence – the source code is available
  • Reduced reliance on imports
  • Developing local software capacity and creating innovation
  • Adherence to intellectual property regimens
  • Localization and other customisations
The cost savings when the software is also available free of cost are also significant.

Challenges
  • no sophisticated marketing
  • lack of awareness by decision makers and IT professionals
  • users who are reluctant to go on another learning curve
  • The branding of software functions with certain commercial software products (think how synonymous Colgate was with toothpaste)
  • the lack of interoperability with existing proprietary systems
  • limited documentation and 'polish'
  • no sophisticated marketing
  • perceptions that Guyanese do not have the talent to acquire the skills to manage free and open source software based systems

Government use of FOSS
Governments around the world – at all levels – national, provincial and municipal have adopted FOSS for use. The Government of Brazil has been a world leader and their portal at http://www.mercadopublico.gov.br has a wide range of applications available for different government systems. The Government of India has a policy on adopting FOSS for all the e-government applications. There are different departments in different agencies of other Governments which adopt different kinds of FOSS for use. Security is often a major consideration.

Open Standards
Guyana's public service , as with many others around the world, will need to be able to share information between agencies and with the public in a seamless way. The adoption of open standards in software systems will increase the efficiency of the sharing of information with the public sector. A useful reference is the Government of UK Open Standards Policy Paper available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/open-standards-principles/open-standards-principles

Considerations for the Public Service

  • There are some projects which have been developed to explore the possibilities. These should be part of a structured observatory in which public servants participate in developing and testing solutions so as to encourage adoption of free and open source software
  • The Public Service Staff College should develop an IT skills curriculum which is not tied to any commercial product, but which uses free and open source software as the basis for training
  • Permanent secretaries and other decision makers should ask about free and open source software alternatives when procuring software products and systems
  • There should be a discussion about open standards as the Government moves to implement information systems in different agencies
This was reported in the Kaieteur News and other media.

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