Ο νέος ιστότοπος για Ελεύθερο και Ανοικτό Λογισμικό παρέχει πληροφορίες πάνω στις ενέργειες που διεξάγωνται από Ευρωπαϊκούς προγραμματιστές και πρωτοβουλίεςσχετικές με το Ελεύθερο και Ανοικτό Λογισμικό.

Ο ιστότοπος βρίσκεται στον παρακάτω σύνδεσμο:

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/opensource/text_en.htm

Free and open source software activities in European Information Society initiatives

http://europa.eu.int/information_society/activities/opensource/text_en.htm

Software has gained so much in importance in almost every sector of society that it has become a strategic societal resource. Moreover, in recent years the software market has shown signs of entering a much more volatile and vigorous period. This re-invigoration of the market is due to the emergence of F/OSS, which has made commercial in-roads in major segments of the software market. This development has led to some unrest with software and service providers and users alike, which may be the natural reaction of a high value market injected with new competitive offers. In terms of the market, F/OSS most likely will increase the competition in the software market from which positive fall-out for the consumer is to be expected. On the provider side, F/OSS creates new opportunities for software and service providers, which may be a new opportunity for the European software industry.

The aim of this website is to provide information on activities conducted within European programmes and initiatives with the objective of raising awareness and understanding of free and open source software (F/OSS). Links to European activities related to open source and to some well-known websites on the subject are provided.

In first instance the information provided focuses on activities of Information Society DG and the IDA programme of DG Enterprise, as these activities are key to the development of the European Information Society. Depending on future developments the scope of the information may be widened to cover F/OSS related activities in other DGs of the European Commission.