The official enthusiasm for independently created apps has gained more momentum with health secretary Andrew Lansley's call for healthcare pros and developers to come up with ideas to support the health service.
It's part of a trend that goes back to the previous government and ties in with the open data movement, and conveys some open minded thinking in the upper reaches of Whitehall. It seems that government is now quite enthusiastic about the idea that it doesn't have to take a bunch of officials or industry consultants to come up with online services that can support the public good – there are plenty of enthusiasts in the wider world capable of providing mini-services that people will want to use.
It would have been more encouraging to see a commitment, however small, to providing some money to support the best ideas; but generally these services can be developed at low cost, and the Department of Health could do a lot to boost take-up.
One qualifying point: we would like to see the judges ensure that their choice apps can work on more than one operating system. Developers are often drawn to Apple, for which there is a much wider range of apps (in all areas) available, and something that is promoted as a public service ought to be as freely available in Android, Windows, Opera and et al. It would be falling short to restrict the use to those who own a particular piece of hardware.
Apps are good, and even better when you can use them whatever type of device you own.
Mark Say is editor of Guardian Government Computing.
