INTRODUCTION
An appreciation of what open source might offer health informatics is developing. The fact that the software is free is plainly a major attraction. But for most organizations licensing and hardware is only a fraction of the the total cost of ownership of an information system: customization, maintenance, training and upgrading cost far more. It is here that open source has the potential to excel: every application is open from top to bottom making extensive customization and maintenance possible. And because thousands of users have submitted bug reports and fixes for the basic system software over the years, open source operating systems are famed for their reliability.
Open source software provides exciting opportunities for developing countries involved in Electronic Governance - an imperative for Good Governance. On the one hand, the use of open source software could substantially reduce the cost of Electronic Governance and promote the growth of the local IT industry servicing the public sector. However, the adoption of open source software in the public sector requires the establishment of policy and legal frameworks, training programmes and coordination structures. There is a clear need for the countries to share the experiences and best practices on how such challenges can be effectively addressed to realize the promise of open-source software.