More than 70 percent of Malaysian government offices are running open source software, according to figures released by the country's Open Source Competency Centre.
The centre was established as part of the 2004 Malaysian Public Sector OSS Master Plan, to guide and co-ordinate the implementation of OSS in the public sector.
The latest OSS adoption figures, released on 24 July, show that 521 of the country's 724 public sector agencies (72 per cent) have adopted OSS. This is a significant increase from 354 agencies (49 percent) in 2008 and 163 (22.5 per cent) in 2007.
OpenOffice is the most popular choice by far, with more than 297 agencies (57 per cent) now using the software. It continues to surge ahead in the popularity stakes, having surpassed rival product MySpamGuard - currently adopted by 81 agencies (15 per cent) - in March last year. MySpamGuard is now the 2nd most popular choice.
The Malaysian government launched the Master Plan in 2004. It aims to improve the efficiency of Malaysian public services and increase growth of the ICT and OSS industries. A year before the plan was launched, only 25 public sector agencies were running open source software.
OSS adoption has saved the government more than 18.8 million ringgit (US$5.4 million) in licensing fees, according to the June issue of the OSCC newsletter.
An OSCC spokesperson said the government hopes to achieve 100 per cent adoption across both federal and state agencies by the time the plan enters its third phase next year.
The initiative has apparently attracted the attention of other countries. Saudi Arabia has requested Malaysia's assistance in establishing its own OSCC, said the spokesperson.
Source: www.asmmag.com
