Open Source. Should all software procured by European governments be developed on an open source license? European administrations should share open source software resources, says report published by Commission. European administrations should share software on an open source licensing basis, to cut soaring eGoverment information technology costs (set to rise by 28% to € 6.6 billion this year), says an independent study published by the European Commission. The “Pooling Open Source Software” study, financed by the Commission’s Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) programme, recommends creating a clearing house to which administrations could “donate” software for re-use. This facility, which would concentrate on applications specific to the needs of the public sector, could encourage the replication of good practice in eGovernment services.

http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/jsps/index.jsp?fuseAction=showDocument&parent=news&documentID=550.