10-01-2004, 06:38
Greetings collegues.
I would like to put on your attention this proposal, born from a productive office of my Region where expert from various nations meet and discuss new ways to improve the service we offer to our citizens.
What we propose is a change in the core of the Informatic System that today drive and manage all the Citizen Informations, and that store informations on all our Citizen.
We all know that Softwares and Operating Systems actually used in about all our nations are "closed". That means we can't check what they EXACTLY do, like looking through what is called "source code" of these programs. It's like we buy a car and we can't look at the engine, as someone has sealed the cowling.
Changing these system with an "Open Source" ones, would be a great benefit under many point of views.
First of all, Governments would finally have the ability to check their systems. This would be a warranty both for Public Administration and for Citizens themselves. Government officies would be free to choose their favourite IT experts to check and mantain their systems, based on the price or quality of the service offered, and not just because the only service available is from the manifacturer of the software.
This would be a benefit to economy too, as the system itself, being "open", would not necessarly be "free", and companies would work not only providing the Software and OS itself, but also with contracts for manteinance and assistance. The switch from the old system itself would also provide an extra work, that would benefit the entire IT sector.
So, we propose this to each UN members, as it is a warranty for the citizen, for his privacy and his security, it improves the quality of Public Administration Services and it boosts the IT economy.
I would like to put on your attention this proposal, born from a productive office of my Region where expert from various nations meet and discuss new ways to improve the service we offer to our citizens.
What we propose is a change in the core of the Informatic System that today drive and manage all the Citizen Informations, and that store informations on all our Citizen.
We all know that Softwares and Operating Systems actually used in about all our nations are "closed". That means we can't check what they EXACTLY do, like looking through what is called "source code" of these programs. It's like we buy a car and we can't look at the engine, as someone has sealed the cowling.
Changing these system with an "Open Source" ones, would be a great benefit under many point of views.
First of all, Governments would finally have the ability to check their systems. This would be a warranty both for Public Administration and for Citizens themselves. Government officies would be free to choose their favourite IT experts to check and mantain their systems, based on the price or quality of the service offered, and not just because the only service available is from the manifacturer of the software.
This would be a benefit to economy too, as the system itself, being "open", would not necessarly be "free", and companies would work not only providing the Software and OS itself, but also with contracts for manteinance and assistance. The switch from the old system itself would also provide an extra work, that would benefit the entire IT sector.
So, we propose this to each UN members, as it is a warranty for the citizen, for his privacy and his security, it improves the quality of Public Administration Services and it boosts the IT economy.