Representatives of the open source community are to meet senior government officials at the Westminster eForum on 12 September to debate the viability and economic impact of open source software.

Alan Cox, a Linux kernel developer, and Mark Taylor, president of the Open Source Consortium (OSC), will present the case for open source development.

Topics under discussion will include the growing popularity of open source software in industry, and its limited adoption in the public sector.

"Public sector IT procurement is unsustainable, and millions are spent every year on proprietary software that rarely delivers," said Taylor.

"Open source software, and the industry that has grown up around it, provide secure, affordable technology solutions without lock-in."

Cox and Taylor are expected to highlight the high levels of failed public sector IT projects, and to offer open source as a viable alternative to the established vendors of proprietary software.

The forum will be balanced by a representative from Microsoft who will stress the advantages of proprietary software in the public sector.

The debate comes shortly after Microsoft's failed attempt to have its OpenXML format adopted as an international standard.