By Christophe Guillemin, 12 March 2007 12:25
NEWS
When French MPs and their assistants return from their summer break this June, they will conduct parliamentary business on PCs running Ubuntu. From the next session of parliament, 1,154 desks will feature the Linux-based PCs.
At the time of the latest IT refresh for parliamentary assistants, France's parliament, the National Assembly decided to switch from Windows to Linux, allowing the 577 MPs to switch to non-proprietary software for the first time.
The tender was won by IT services company Linagora, an open source specialist, and Unilog. The Mandriva distro was mentioned in several documents under consideration but was eventually dropped.
As well as using the Ubuntu distro, the MPs and their assistants will also use Firefox, OpenOffice and Mozilla's messaging client Thunderbird, and other tailored applications.
The project has been defended by MPs Richard Cazenave and Bernard Carayon of the UMP party, who have put forward certain advantages of open source software, such as the reduced cost of public IT equipment and the transfer of added value to French and European users.
Before taking its decision, the Assembly hired Atos Origin to undertake a study into the matter, which concluded "open source solutions now offer functionality adapted to the needs of MPs and will allow the realisation of substantial economies despite certain installation and training costs". It's thought the budget for switching from Windows to Linux is in the region of €80,000.
The French lower house is already using open source software elsewhere in its IT systems, including Apache web server and the Mambo content management system. The MPs' move to open source is the first concerning a switch of operating system - previous initiatives have been more focused on servers (such as the Agriculture Ministry), OpenOffice (such as the gendarmerie) or Firefox (such as the French tax office).
Christophe Guillemin writes for ZDNet France
Comments
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1. anonymous
Running Linux on servers is the obvious best choice unless you have software that's MS specific (and you really should be looking at why that is - is your software house reputable?).
Running Linux on the Desktop however is bold and extremely forward thinking and shows that those making the decision aren't falling for wining and dining tactics of many of the commercial suppliers.
I applaud "Old Europe" for having the modern, forward thinking view - again.
2. Richard
Britain must not be left behind: We should select the best Linux “distro” for each part of government:
OLPCs should be issued to MPs & their special advisers, although some may want Red Hat;
Ark Linux for the Royal Navy, Dragonfly for the RAF and Foresight for the MoD;
Knoppix to bring Teutonic efficiency to the Home Office, with SmoothWall for its Prison Service;
Argentinian "Musix" or Persian "Parsix" for the Foreign Office;
Pure:Dyne from goto10.org for Gordon Brown.