In a landmark decision, the Dutch government of The Netherlands will go completely Open Source in 2008. In an age bureaucracies still cling to proprietary software solutions like Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite and others, this decision is huge. A government going Open Source is a huge step in this time of increasing technological control measures being taken by other governments.

The Netherlands will still allow proprietary software to be used by their staff members if they choose, but they will be supporting the move to Open Source. This is unique among governments, mainly because Open Source is software that can be freely modified and changed by anyone. It brings a new level of both freedom and trust into the halls of government.

Why freedom? Because Open Source software platforms like OpenOffice.Org are free for anyone to use, it releases government from the bonds of overpriced proprietary software. Adobe Creative Suite, for example, an industry standard design and publishing platform, averages $500 USD or more for each of the four components to the software - for a total of almost $2000 USD for one license. Microsoft Word can run as high as $400 USD or more for a single user license. Multiply that by every person who needs the software in an office and you can see where Open Source solutions will save governments a bundle.

Not only will governments achieve monetary freedom by using Open Source solutions, they will achieve freedom of choice as well. Right now, governments are beholden to specific companies that they contract with to use their proprietary software. These companies then continue to charge the users of their software for upgrades, technical support, and more. Plus, the software manufacturers encourage dependency on their products. Up until now a switch of this magnitude was unthinkable, but the programmers of Open Source products have leveled the playing field.

While The Netherlands is breaking new ground as a country endorsing and using Open Source, smaller governments in towns and cities all over Europe have been using Open Source for a while now with some success. Of course, proprietary software companies are crying foul over the endorsement of Open Source. They claim it is not “in the best interest” of the software market as a whole. Frankly, I think people will still choose proprietary software for the security and familiarity it offers, even though Open Source is just as good. What this may do, however; is force a sea change in how over priced software is. One can only hope.