Government Consultation on Open Standards

[Duke]

http://consultation.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/openstandards/

The Government has launched a consultation on use of open standards in IT:

The Government is therefore seeking to:

* give citizens and businesses a choice in the software they use when accessing government information and services;
* reduce lock-in to a particular vendor or product;
* reduce the cost of IT through a more competitive and diverse market and sustained commercial leverage; and
* improve software interoperability and sharing of data and documents across government boundaries.

I imagine this will be of some interest to quite a few people here. Does anyone (other than me, who doesn't know much about any of this stuff) want to take the lead on this (deadline is June-ish)?

[topperfalkon]

I've kicked off a PiratePad to get us started.

[azrael]

We contacted you a little while ago to let you know that building on your responses to the UK Government Open Standards Survey, we had launched a public consultation and were inviting people to give their views on open standards for software interoperability, data and document formats in the Open Standards: Open Opportunities online consultation.

The questions and proposed policy go into much more depth than the previous survey and it’s important that we get as much feedback and detailed evidence as possible. The outcome will inform the Government’s policy on:

· The definition of open standards for UK Government IT
· The meaning of mandation and the effects compulsory standards may have on government departments, delivery partners and supply chains; and
· Alignment with international initiatives and regulations.

If you haven’t already responded, please do consider giving your views to the online consultation (http://bitly.com/openstandards) by 3 May. Alternatively, you could take part in one of the public roundtable discussions (http://bitly.com/openstandardsevents) – they’re really useful for unpacking the issues on some of the in-depth questions that the consultation raises.