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Australian Government Agency Moves Towards Linux

Posted by samzenpus on from the change-is-good dept.

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet Australia is reporting that Centrelink, the Australian government agency responsible for distributing social security payments, is investigating Novell's Open Enterprise Server as a method of consolidating huge chunks of its network. Centrelink's national manager is quoted as saying: "We have to look at remote access, virus protection, security. Linux has those capabilities but we have to assure our more senior executives that these boxes have the same level of security and protection as the commercial products""

7 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Centrelink is a huge mess by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Informative

    Centrelink is actually the union of about half a dozen systems inherited from previous government agencies. Some of the systems run on mainframes, some on Novell, who knows what else. All of these systems don't really talk to each other well, and integration problems have been a nightmare for quite some time.

    It'll be interesting to see precisely what they're planning to migrate to Linux.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
  2. Re:Hello, Microsoft? by tooth · · Score: 4, Informative
    Relevent slashdot article

  3. No need for Windows by _Hellfire_ · · Score: 5, Informative

    Everything Centrelink does is web based anyway. All they need are some mid end desktops running and firefox and they'd be set.

    When I dealt with them I was sitting there thinking: Hmmm Internet Explorer under Windows 2000. Fairly expensive and a waste of a software license if you ask me. I also remember thinking that this department would be the ideal place for a large linux rollout simply because they have no need for standard (read: Microsoft centric) apps like word and excel because everything they do is Web server/client based with all the heavy stuff on the backend servers.

    --
    "And then I visited Wikipedia ...and the next 8 hours are a blur..."
    1. Re:No need for Windows by cammoblammo · · Score: 3, Informative
      Only a huge mainframe could cope with the vast numbers of bludgers and scoungers Centerlink caters for ;)

      I'm going to assume the emoticon at the end of your post means you're joking, because a huge number of hard-working Australians use Centrelink services.

      In Australia, most students above the age of sixteen are eligible for a benefit (Youth Allowance, Austudy or Abstudy, depending on age and race.) Any person eligible for Family Tax benefit (cut off, I believe, is around $70,000 pa) have received two payments of $600 per child in the last six months.

      Not to mention aged pensions, disability pensions, sickness benefits, carers' benefits training incentives, return to work programs and a whole number of things (theoretically) designed to help people who do actually have an interest in getting into the work force, or at least doing valuable work as volunteers.

      There will always be those who bludge off the system (believe me, I'm up to the gills with them on a daily basis.) They will always be scoundrels, but at least this way their bludging's regulated.

      --

      Cogito, ergo sig.

  4. met bureau by BlackMagi · · Score: 4, Informative

    Linux is a pretty common platform here at the Bureau of Met., but I guess that's always going to be the case in a scientific organisation. It's certainly not thought of as strange, though.

    --
    http://melbournephilosophy.com/
  5. Re:Hello, Microsoft? by strider44 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Please rtfa. They don't use Windows anyway.

  6. My God... RTFA, people by 26199 · · Score: 4, Informative

    All these 'WTF? Linux as secure as Windows? Hahahaha' comments are completely offtopic. If you actually read the article you'll find that the current systems are Novell, Solaris and Lotus based. Linux is the easy option for migration, and Microsoft is barely even in the running.