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Novell Signs Linux Deal with Australian Government
truthsearch writes to tell us ITWire is reporting that Novell has just signed a deal with the Australian government to become an approved supplier of Open Source software and solutions. This deal, believed to be the first of it's kind, "places Novell on the NSW government panel of preferred open source suppliers. This is the first panel contract of its kind by an Australian jurisdiction that contains provisions specific to open source software, giving government agencies and departments formal access to Linux solutions."
Why don't all governments switch to Linux? Microsoft's Vista release should be the perfect opportunity for government agencies to get out of this vendor lock-in. What programs are government agencies using that can't run on Linux? Open source word processing on linux should be ready for primetime soon, and until then wordperfect is still available. Any non-activeX web app should not be a problem either.
.NET. That would be stupid.
I just hope that any new government created is not made with Microsoft SQL and
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
As much as I like to think that my state is a little more important than the others, it's pretty obvious from the title of TFA that the deal has been signed with the New South Wales state government, not the Australian federal government.
The article clearly states that the contract is with the New South Wales State Government. So this covers New South Wales only, not the entire country, as the slashdot title indicates.
Also, just because Novell is now an approved supplier doesn't mean that NSW State Government can't implement non-Novell solutions, or purchase OSS (solutions) from anyone other than Novell. AFAIK, it merely means that some paperwork can be skipped in the procurement process. For instance, I think that when dealing with a non-approved supplier, evidence of comparative offerings from at least 2 other suppliers is also required. At least, that is what it would mean in a Federal Government context.
Because you can't download a free support :)
NSW has about 35% of the Australian population. It isn't just 1 of 8 state and territory governments, it is the *biggest* state government.
I am anarch of all I survey.
A few facts about Microsoft:
1. If you can sue Microsoft, they can sue you. If you cant sue Microsoft you may be only seconds away from bankrupcy.
2. There are no bankruptcies. Only people who have met Microsoft.
3. Microsoft defines competition as the reluctance to be bought out by Microsoft. If your company still exists, its just because Microsoft hasn't gotten around to buying you out.
4. When Microsoft enters a new field it doesnt join the market. The Market becomes Microsoft.
Netbooks, they come with Linux or a $3 copy of Windows. Either way, Microsoft loses.
A year ago Novell seemed to have lost its way with its SuSE initative. The executive who had directed the open source strategy had departed, and much of the rest of the company just didn't get it.
Then they decided to release OpenSuse. OpenSuse is now more popular than Fedora Core. That won back the devs like me who had not been listening. And OpenSuse is polished.
This announcement of itself is not that huge. But when taken with the other things they have been doing I can see that Novell can gain mindshare amongst developers and their traditional corporate base. That bodes well for them.