| French National Assembly moves to Linux |
Mar. 13, 2007
France's National Assembly is staging a revolution of its own: it's moving from Windows to open source. When the Assembly meets next in June 2007, its members will be working on 1,154 new computers running Ubuntu Linux.
According to a report by ZDNet France, two companies will be providing the Ubuntu computers: Linagora and Unilog. Mandriva, the well-known France-based Linux distributor, was also in the running. In the end, though, the job was awarded to Lingora, a French system integrator that specializes in open-source software; and Unilog, the French division of international computer consultancy and systems integrator LogicaCMG.
Unilog has long been involved in Linux desktop efforts. The company was closely involved in the German government's decision to switch its Munich office over to Linux.
This isn't just about operating systems. The members of the Assembly and their aides will also be using open-source software for the majority of their work. Among these programs are OpenOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird.
Richard Cazenave and Bernard Carayon, two members of the French assembly who favor the change, say that France is making this move because it will mean reduced cost and the added value to French and European users. In countries outside the U.S., Microsoft products are being increasingly met by resistance. As CNET columnist Charles Cooper once remarked, foreign governments often view moving away from America's Microsoft as being in their country's best interest.
-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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