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Spain Prepares For 14,000-User Linux Installation

Posted by timothy on from the don't-show-them-kbounce-please dept.

rafael_es_son writes "The regional Health Service of Extremadura, Spain (Servicio Extremeño de Salud) prepares for what IBM describes as the country's biggest GNU/Linux rollout to date. IBM is to receive $33.8 million USD over a four year period for the development of systems which should enable some 14,000 doctors and other medical professionals access to patient health care data on a region currently described as underserved in comparison with the rest of the country." (Read more below.)

"The current biggest European implementation title-holder, German National Railway, cites 'continuous cost savings, greater flexibility and integration benefits' as reason for changing over to GNU/Linux-based solutions. The German National Railway GNU/Linux implementation currently boasts approximately 55,000 users, in comparison to the current Munich implementation of 14,000 desktops.

We of course know better: Interoperability and Open Source are not synonymous."

3 of 18 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Interoperability by Daniel+Zappala · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is the case of a comment (from Bill Gates) that technically could be true, but in practice is not. There is a big difference between the two. Open source projects have a much better history of interoperability, particularly when the standards themselves are open. Heck, open source software even bends over backwards to interoperate with Microsoft stuff (e.g. Samba) without much help from Microsoft itself.

  2. Re:Interoperability by zonx+lebaam · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Some quick mental (or sliderule or google or whatever) arithmetic gives c. USD2400 per user. Although that's not *real* expensive, it would certainly indicate that IBM is going to be supplying some fair amount of development/maintenance/support value.

    When the four years are up, if they didn't like the IBM experience, they could pay someone else, and not lose all of their previous investment.

    If astute, they can be training staff to "insource" the work at the end of the support period. Then they will be in the somewhat enviable position of maintaining and using their own (working) system to their longterm evolving needs.

    At least in theory ...

  3. So this indiatimes article is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    an English news agency feed reported in an Indian paper about a US project to put a Finnish OS on Spanish servers?