"While open source software is a legitimate and potentially effective approach to software development, this approach is not inherently better or more deserving of consideration than proprietary approaches," said ITAA President Harris N. Miller. "We believe that government procurement should focus on issues like software cost and quality, not government mandates."
ITAA also released a white paper on open source software development. The white paper explains the differences between open source and proprietary software, describes the open source software marketplace, and delves into the public policy and industry implications of this type of software.
ITAA elaborated on its principles concerning open source in the new white paper, noting:
- Intellectual property has value as determined by a competitive marketplace without undue regulatory interference, such as arbitrarily restrictive procurement guidelines.
- Software should be procured for government, industry, or individual use based on its merits, its evaluation as the "best value" to the customer, not on its license or development model category. Such procurement decisions should be made on a technology neutral basis.
- Open source and proprietary software are legitimate software categories providing increased choices for all customers.
- Government sponsored research should not be about choosing to invest to support a particular business model, but rather should seek results that can be further developed and commercialized by the broadest possible community of software developers, regardless of their business models.
- ITAA encourages a "best value" analysis, including consideration of the total cost of ownership, when acquiring a software solution, including the cost of implementation testing and maintenance expense, as well as the benefits of adding new system capabilities to increase customer flexibility and value.
- ITAA supports global open standards. ITAA supports their voluntary, consensus-based, industry-led development and adoption and note that open standards must be made available in ways that reflect their value, which can include utilizing "royalty free" terms and "reasonable and nondiscriminatory royalty rates" as appropriate.
- Other than in its role as a customer in the marketplace for its own systems, government should not set standards. When setting standards for itself, government must use performance-based metrics for its standards without reference to any particular model of software development.
