Centennial Article: Open source software cracks into school market

Open source software cracks into school market

Open source has had another victory against the subscription licensing model, as it branches into the education sector.

Becta, the government procurement quango, has launched a programme to get schools to adopt open source software, according to The Inquirer.

Three open source suppliers have submitted tenders to the organisation, for a £270,000 Schools Open Source Project, which will take two years and build a group of schools to use open source software.

Mark Taylor, president of the Open Source Consortium, told the website: "We've been telling Becta for a while that they need to help kick start open source in the schools market."

"We will have open source companies being official suppliers to education for the first time. Becta are at last taking practical steps to open up the market."

Microsoft is currently the main provider of software for schools, but Becta reconsidered its allegiance with the company two years ago, according to Mr Taylor.

Last week, John Powell, the chief executive officer of open source content management firm Alfresco, said the industry was worth £30 billion.

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