The success of Romania's first major Open Source event held last May should entice the government to consider developing policies to promote this type of software. The conference is to be held again next year.
"The conference was a bigger success than we expected", says Lucian Savluc, one of the eLiberatica organisers and the initiator of ROSI, Romanian Open Source and Free Software Initiative. "There is lots of interest in this type of software and a growing community of developers and users. All participants asked for a next edition."
The government was represented by Eugen Preotu, counsellor at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. His presence stimulated the volunteer organisers: "The government was preoccupied with a national referendum held at the same time as our conference. However, they did notice us, and this is only the first step. Next year we plan to get all of their attention. We want to make them consider the possibilities of Open Source technologies, like other European governments are."
To facilitate governmental interest, ROSI will next year organise the conference in the capital Bucharest. "We will also invite more speakers from foreign governments that embrace Open Source." Last May, this topic was addressed by Jim Willis, the former director of eGovernment from Rhode Island.
Open Source advocate Savluc says it is not easy to open up the IT systems in Romania. "In the last fifteen years this country has seen mostly Microsoft and other proprietary software solutions."
However, eLiberatica brought together more than 250 Romanian Open Source enthusiasts. "There is plenty of interest, but this type of software is not yet mainstream." One reason for this, he says, could be that IT companies are unsure how to make a profit based on Open Source. "That is why this year, we had presentations done by several companies who successfully adopted Open Source business models; international companies like IBM, Red Hat and Sun, together with national companies like BitDefender and BitSoftware attracted a lot of interest at eLiberatica."
Savluc expects the use of Open Source will increase when the Romanian programmers and IT businesses discover its benefits and have the courage to try something new. "Today, most Romanian IT companies require their employees to be apt with Microsoft technologies. And it is said that Romanian is Redmond's second language."
The organisers of eLiberatica hope to prove that there are plenty of alternatives. "We have the freedom of choice. We can choose to be open and free, especially when we talk about information and communication technology."
Earlier this month, the Romanian prime minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu appointed IT expert Constantin Teodorescu as Secretary of State at the ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It heartens the eLiberatica organisors. "Teodorescu understands Open Source software and realises it can coexist and bring balance into the unipolar Romanian IT market."
© European Communities 2007
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