Meeting with Mark Pawsey Conservative MP at OpusVL offices in Rugby 13^th August 2010

Following an invitation to talk to OpusVL regarding Open Source in government, Mark Pawsey MP met with Stuart Mackintosh Managing Director of OpusVL , David Ogden – Executive Sales Manager and Becky Mackintosh – Office Manager, at Drury House. Mark Pawsey was keen to hear how Opus was created and the background behind some of the key players within the team. Stuart explained how his background in computer hardware and components in the late 80s eventually led him to look at open source software. In the early 90s Stuart developed an early e-commerce systems which traded in the region of £1million per month using open source software. Since then his belief in open source software has enabled him to set up OpusVL which has steadily grown over the last 10 years.

About Mark Pawsey

Mark briefly described his background in business and since selling his own company a couple of years ago, has focused his energy on politics. After winning his seat in the recent local election, Mark is keen to support local business. He admitted not knowing too much about open source and how it could be adopted throughout government departments.

Free software?

He asked Stuart how, if open source software was free, companies like OpusVL could run a business and make a living from it. David Ogden explained how OpusVL uses their expertise to chose, apply and modify open source code for their customers individual requirements, whether they be small businesses or large international corporates. It is this fundamental knowledge and skill that runs throughout the whole OpusVL team.

Is it reliable?

Mark wondered how you could rely on this source code as it is written by a large community and therefore does not have the guidelines and rigidity that other proprietary software houses insist on. He likened it to the information you can find on Wikipedia – how it is not always reliable and accurate. The response by Stuart was to point out that that Wikipedia should be used in the same context as asking a friend for advice ie you would probably ask a few friends and then take a general view. Open source is similar, but if you wanted specific info relating to your business then you would probably seek professional advice. This is where OpusVL can turn Open Source into a business solution.

In the "real" world

Stuart then gave examples of how Open source is used in everyday life, ie with Google, Facebook, mobile phones, Tom Tom sat nav, broadband routers, and within the Transport of London systems. Mark was keen to hear how open source could be reliable if designed by lots of different people with different ideas across the world. David Ogden gave the example that Microsoft may have many developers who release an initial version of some software which is then tested by others. Open source however may be designed and tested at the same time by many more users, enabling bugs to be fixed quickly and different versions to be available.

Implementation failures

Mark talked about previous government disasters and how many of them seemed to be IT related. Stuart said it was not necessarily the IT system that had failed but rather the misunderstanding of how the system would be used when it was originally designed. He believes that the approach to the design of IT solutions needs to be improved. He said that to understand what was needed, consultancy with the actual people who would use the systems as well other management figures would be necessary. How government consulted with suppliers would also need to be improved.

Choosing Open Source apps

Mark asked Stuart how to chose open source software from the internet if there are so many options freely available. Stuart replied that there was a difference between what home users would require and the more complex solutions that local authorities and the government would need. For home users and even small business there is an array of applications that can easily be downloaded and installed for example Firefox web browser and the OpenOffice software that contains a word processor, spreadsheet, etc. For larger business and government departments using specialised companies like OpusVL would mean the right solution would be found and implemented for them.

Who markets it?

Mark was intrigued how, if there is no marketing for open source, it reaches the mainstream. Stuart pointed out that many forms of social media ie Twitter was never advertised and only spread through word of mouth to millions of users. Open source so far has also spread in a similar viral way.

Industry size

Mark questioned whether there were enough companies like OpusVL to maintain and support large projects that the government would require. Stuart said that there were already 3 companies in Rugby, and other established companies throughout the country as well as many new emerging companies with strong capabilities.. The ethos behind open source is to work together therefore most companies would be keen to ensure high levels of design and stability were met. There is also a huge open source community throughout the country and the world.

An IT revolution?

Mark began to see that the spread of and use of Open source was similar to an IT revolution. In many ways it is good but pointed out there will be many board members and highly placed officials who may not like the change this will bring. David countered that if they realise that not only is the product stable, reliable and well supported but can also save a large part of their budget then maybe these cost savings will ultimately swing their long held beliefs. After all, the coalition government is determined to save money and is implementing many cuts throughout its departments. They could easily save millions of pounds in licensing costs. Just by replacing all MPs desktops with open source software would save the government significant amounts of money.

Too cheap?

Mark asked whether if solutions were cheap surely that may make some companies look elsewhere. Stuart agreed that occasionally companies do think this way, but more often than not businesses are keen to save money, especially when the end product is of a high specification and design.

Working together

Stuart said that he would like to encourage the development of a working group of MPs and specialised companies to promote open source within government. Mark will see if there is already an all party parliamentary group set up. Mark has kindly agreed to set up a meeting between OpusVL and PICT (Parliamentary Information and Communications Technology) to see how we can work together to bring the benefits of open source into government. We will also collate some questions for Mark to ask the Conservative Party and/or the House of Commons regarding government spending on propriety software and the use of open source software.

Try before you buy

Stuart believes that to alleviate any concerns they may have, the conservatives and the government should “try out” open source within numerous small project to see its strengths and integration powers before incorporating it into higher value projects. He also pointed out that the USA is already using open source across many departments, and many EU countries are rapidly increasing their use. The governments of Brazil and Malaysia are nearly 100% open source based.

In summary, the meeting between OpusVL and Mark Pawsey MP was certainly interesting for both sides. By the end of the meeting Mark could see the benefits of open source for businesses and government and wanted to help OpusVL promote this.

We hope that Mark will take us up on our offer to come back with one of his members of staff to see how easy open source is to use and maybe to implement it onto his own systems. We will also work together to write a letter to the Conservative Party Chairman, Baroness Warsi, illustrating how we can save them money within their own department.