Charter
Open access to information is fundamental to scientific progress. A college committed to excellence in science and technology should do everything to promote this. Non-discriminatory access has been undermined by powerful anti-competitive interests in the IT industry. We wish to persuade senior members of Imperial College that they should free the College from unnecessary dependence on proprietary software producers, permit access of information to all members of the College regardless of their software choices and maximise the return from the College's financial resources by promoting free and open source software.
Freedom from vendor lock-in
A digital file is not like a physical file. A person can open a physical file and interpret the information contained therein without impediments. Digital information, on the other hand, is encoded in a series of numbers. In the ASCII system, for instance, the number 65 represents the character 'A' while the number 99 represents the character 'c'. Provided we all understand the encoding, everyone has access to the information. But what happens if the encoding is a secret? In that case, the user relies on the proprietor for access to his or her information. We believe that the owners of information should not depend on a vendor to read it and that this can easily be achieved by using free open standards such as plain text, OpenDocument and PDF.
Non-discrimination
When someone shares digital information, the recipient must be able to decode it. If this information is provided by means of proprietary protocols or file formats, the recipient is coerced into buying and using the proprietary software needed to read it. In most cases, high-quality free alternatives exist that would allow anyone to read it, regardless of their choice of software. We believe the College should enforce the use of open standards for information sharing whenever possible.
Maximising College investment
There are two important reasons why supporting proprietary protocols and file formats is financially unwise. First, it results in vendor lock-in. This means that the vendor can increase its prices while providing mediocre products without risking the customer's defection to a competitor. Second, proprietary software costs money. In most cases, free alternatives exist that offer the user excellent quality, cross-platform compatibility and flexibility. We believe that the College should promote the use of free and open source software whenever possible.