Open Source Observatory and Repository

The Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR) is a website launched by the European Commission under the IDABC programme, to support the distribution and reuse of software developed by or for public sector administrations across Europe, connecting EU services and Member States.

Mission statement

The OSOR.eu platform, and in particular the OSOR.eu Repository and the OSOR.eu Forge are aimed to support and encourage the re-use of publicly-financed Open Source Software developments (OSS or FLOSS for "Free, Libre & Open Source Software") that are of particular use for public administrations in Europe. OSOR.eu aims to support the collaborative development of OSS applications and solutions, in particular cross-border collaboration and exchange of knowledge or software. Project owners are invited to open projects on the OSOR.eu platform and to license their content or source code under a recognised Open Source license, giving to a larger public the possibility to test and use their solutions, to provide their feedback and to contribute to quality. Re-use and collaboration should produce positive outcomes regarding the number of users, interoperability, sustainability due to the size and the motivation of the supporting developer’s community. OSOR.eu will also promote and link to the work of national repositories so as to encourage the emergence of pan-European federation of Open Source Software repositories.

Services

The following services are available on the OSOR.eu site:

• A central pan-European information platform on OSS which includes news, events, case studies and newsletters about on-going initiatives, projects, new applications and developments in European Members States and across the world, as well as advices/guidelines around the use of OSS and the OSOR;

• A repository and registry which provide visibility to European OS projects and initiatives in public administrations, allowing users to upload and download, search and retrieve software and documentation. It will facilitate mutual access to existing projects through a dedicated taxonomy and therefore multiply chances to develop exchanges, re-usability and community building across borders;

• A collaborative cross-border development environment providing technical, organisational and legal support. It will enable collaborative development and share/exchange of experience and software by providing facilities for the collaborative creation of content - including a "forge", discussion forums, blogs...

Bodies behind the project

The OSOR project is financed by the European Commission, managed by the IDABC unit (DG Digit), and supported by the Member States national, regional and local administrations. As from September 2006 (kick-off) the delivery of the project is managed by a consortium led by UNISYS (Belgium), including also the United Nations University MERIT (Netherlands), the URJC University Rey Juan Carlos (Spain) and Gopa-Cartermill (Belgium).

External references

• OSOR.eu
• IDABC