Speech by Mr. Howard C Dickson, Government Chief Information Officer, at the Opening Ceremony of Hong Kong Open Source Software Centre (HKOSSC)
19 September 2007

Mr. Fung, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon! It's my pleasure to join you at this opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Open Source Software Centre (HKOSSC). By rendering various support services such as consultancy, training and marketing, this Centre contributes to the development of the local software industry and the adoption of Open Source Software (OSS) solutions. Furthermore, it facilitates partnerships among software developers, end-users and enterprises.

The Expert Group on Co-operation in Informatisation (EGCI) was established in 2006 under the auspices of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference to strengthen the co-operation in information industry and informatisation between Hong Kong and Guangdong. Among other things, OSS was identified as one of the key collaboration areas. By working together with its partners in Guangdong, this Centre will certainly help facilitate further collaboration between Hong Kong and Guangdong on OSS.

With the advent of OSS, we have witnessed the broadening of product choices as well as other benefits arising from stronger product competition. The Government welcomes such development trend and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) has been promoting the awareness of OSS within the government. We also advise Bureaux and Departments (B/Ds) to ensure that the Government obtains the best value for money in selecting solutions, taking advantage of a more competitive market.

In facilitating OSS suppliers and other suppliers in entering the Government market, we assist them by providing them adequate information. We help them understand the general requirements of Government systems in terms of functions, specifications, and compatibility. This will in turn help them enhance competitiveness of their products and solutions.

The Government has also been collaborating with the industry to lead and promote the development and adoption of OSS products. We have been providing funding and various forms of support to major industry-led OSS initiatives which include survey on the adoption of OSS, OSS award schemes, seminars to promote the awareness and adoption of OSS, etc. For example, an industry-led project with Government sponsorship was completed in May this year to facilitate local software companies to gain access to the Mainland OSS market. Under this project, a total of 20 OSS solutions from 15 local software companies were successfully tested and enlisted in the "Guangdong Linux Software and Hardware Recommended Procurement List" which is referenced in Guangdong Government procurement.

OGCIO has sponsored another project in March this year which aims to facilitate the migration of software application solutions to the OSS platform. I am sure the HKOSSC will be playing a key role to providing a full range of support services to facilitate software companies in the migration of their solutions to the OSS platform and to facilitate the deployment of the migrated software application solutions.

On this memorable occasion, may I take this opportunity to congratulate the Hong Kong Productivity Council and wish the HKOSS Centre every success.

Thank you.

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