Dutch Parliament

The Dutch government’s lack of vendor independence is too high a cost for society, the Dutch Parliament concludes. The government should enforce its policy on open standards in ICT procurement and should also devise exit strategies - to reduce its dependence on ICT suppliers. This week Tuesday, the parliament adopted a resolution criticizing the government for having no open source ambition. The resolution was adopted with 136 votes in favour and 14 against. The parliament calls upon the government to make sure that in any new ICT project, the specifications give open source a fair chance. When proprietary software is selected, this needs to be explained, the parliament stipulates. “(the) dependence on a limited number of large software vendors (is) too strong”, the resolutions says, adding that this can lead to software costs that are too high for society.

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