I remember the atmosphere of collision and hesitation when I attended the Committee Hearing for the Free and Open Source Software Bill being lobbied and presented by Bayan Muna Party List Congressman, Teddy Casino in 2006.  The FOSS bill was seen as a killer bill by those that belongs to the Software Alliance in the Philippines, while as an equalizer by those from the Bayanihan Linux group and the Computer Professionals Union (CPU).

The bill basically mandates government software providers to allow the inspection and customization of the codes that they will be supplying the government.  This bill also tries to argue that both open source and proprietary software are good software.

The current trend in government discourages open source software promoters and companies to do business because they are seen as less efficient and effective against their proprietary counterparts.  The prices of open source are also lower considerably and this is seen by government as a negative rather than positive when deciding on the lowest bidder.

Take for example a usual custom website might cost the government a minimum of P100,000 initial setup while by using Open Source software it might only cost a minimum of P10,000.  That is way way below the cost of proprietary software.

The importance and relevance of adopting a bill on FOSS is actually on getting a better software at a lower cost and in leveling the playing field.  There are many open source software that are far better than proprietary software although there are also times that proprietary software are better.

In this note, I would like to congratulate Rep. Teddy Casino for his courage and dedication to lead the way in promoting Free and Open Source Software.  I am hoping that this bill will finally be a law soon.

[ Download a copy of the bill click here ]