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I recently reviewed (actually browsed as there were only10 PowerPoint slides in total) a Government of Canada presentation to attendees of the September 2006 CIO Summit in Ottawa.

Titled “IM/IT Government in Canada . . . Open to Business” the presentation emphasized the fact that “change is the only constant.” Referencing a transformation agenda which highlighted a variety of important areas including internal services such as finance, human resources and procurement, the case for open standards was offered as the best possible way to manage this ongoing evolution. More specifically, the concept of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) as a viable solution was introduced.

Now this is a subject that is of great interest to me personally as I have been tracking the transition of traditional software licensing models to the present day Software as a Service (SAAS) model since 1998 (my recent Ariba interview post reviewed the emergence of SaaS at some length). The question that my ongoing research has attempted to answer is if SaaS is a sustainable model or merely a transitory link or bridge to FOSS? The fact that the City of Houston “shifted” to a FOSS platform in response to Microsoft’s demand that the city change to a $12 million, multi-year licensing plan is certainly worth noting. (Note: all research data at this point in time indicates that both SaaS and FOSS will likely co-exist as they each address unique requirements that are indigenous to their respective business models.)