Slashdot Mirror
World Govs Choose Linux For Security & More
pjones writes "Government Technology reports that "For reasons of national security and national pride, government officials in countries like China, France and Germany are increasingly adopting the free, open-source computer operating system known as Linux." Noted in the article are China's Red Flag, NSA's Security-Enhanced Linux and much more."
Got to agree with you. The NHS (National Health Service) in the UK just linked up with Microsoft to use their software on all their computers. This includes office as well. The article is from BBC News.
The NHS is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) employers in the UK so a deal like this means a massive increase in income for MS - £5 billion according to the article (with discount!).
As the article says medical records need confidentiality and having MS "own" the system required to read it is potentially disasterous. The other computer projects that the NHS has undertaken have not been too great of a success e.g. the "NHSnet" (an internal network) which was buggy and used old protocols instead of using newer email protocols (i.e. they didn't use POP3).
I think that MS one this contract cause they are in bed with president tony (blair). I can't see how it is good for the health service if every machine is ms-dependent. They really should have tried splitting the system between different contractors (ms could still be involved) so that there is redundancy in the system. The thing is everybody attack IIS systems, and for some reason I think it will be a major hassle trying to locate and patch every single server the NHS has.
more links
500,000 winxp licenses for Uk.gov
NHS email system not working
Gates talks to NHS managers about using ms products
Doctors forced to use Hotmail for confidential medical records