The OSC enjoyed a successful LinuxWorld in London this week, with the OSC pavilion giving members the opportunity to exhibit at a reduced rate and the two OSC business briefings giving us the opportunity to showcase our successful commercial work with Bridgend Council, and to call for the UK Government to get the benefits from Open Source.

This year the OSC was pleased to be able to offer our members cut-price stands at the London Olympia LinuxWorld Expo on 25th and 26th October, with several members taking the opportunity.

At our Wednesday briefing session, Chris Howell from Bridgend Council told a packed theatre how pleased Bridgend had been with a procurement process that made their lives easier and, saw OSC member EMC deliver an excellent solution : a set of Content Management Systems now being used to improve communications between the council and local people.  Chris told the audience how a single email to the OSC allowed him to reach over fifty companies with expertise in Open Source Software.

The work at Bridgend had originally been tendered for by around forty companies, bothroprietary and open source vendors.   Two companies tendered from the OSC; both made the last five and one, EMC, won the contract.

On Thursday, OSC CEO Iain Roberts spoke of public sector procurement being geared towards proprietary software, with the benefits of open source such as avoiding lock-in barely being considered.  He told the audience how Open Source Software had the potential to save the public sector huge amounts of money by allowing them to take ownership of their software; and how it contributed to innovation, social inclusion and the environment.  Iain spoke of the need for the Free and Open Source community to come together and put pressure on politicians to get these benefits.

The OSC would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event a success.