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French Parliament To Go Open Source

Posted by kdawson on from the desktops-and-all dept.

dhoyte writes, "Newsfactor.com reports that next June the French parliament will be switching from Microsoft to open source products such as Linux for desktops and servers and OpenOffice for day-to-day documents. They see it as a cost-cutting measure." The French have not settled on a Linux distribution yet. The article quotes an analyst voicing a note of caution: "'The evidence on the cost savings attributable to a switch to Linux has been mixed,' according to Chris Swenson, director of software industry analysis at research group NPD. 'There has been some evidence that companies have to spend a good deal on training and support after you deploy...'"

8 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Think Linux juice. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    'There has been some evidence that companies have to spend a good deal on training and support after you deploy...'"

    Nonsense! Linux is so easy to use you can take it out of the box and plug it in. And be working that same day.

    1. Re:Think Linux juice. by Fred_A · · Score: 5, Funny

      Besides I've seen with my own eyes a 12 year old girl recognising an obscure Unix file manager after a mere glance. "I know this, this is Unix !" she exclaimed in front of a clueless audience of hundreds.

      So don't tell me Unix is hard. 12 year old girls can use it.

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
  2. Re:I think slashdot... by bedonnant · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...must be a nexus point in the Matrix, déjà vu seems to happen quite often around here

    --
    ~~~ Paf. Le chien.
  3. Re:mandriva by lamebrane · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, the Germans have always been good at following the French. Or, if that doesn't work, just anschlussing them.

  4. Re:Bullshit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I use OSS tools to produce a custom POS for my clients. it runs on freebsd. so yes. "works with all standard point of sale software" - sorry chump there's no such thing. but you did do a good job of making it sound involved, you even named serveral things twice. in the real world there's no software out there does everything your suggesting. it simply does not exist. "Yeah, thought so." - next time hold off on finishing other peoples replies, now you just look like a cock.

  5. Re:mandriva by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    French sounding name, White Flag Linux?

  6. Re:mandriva by tacocat · · Score: 2, Funny

    If the French actually make the switch...

    Microsoft will begin lobbying the US government based on new information that:

    1. the French have weapons of mass destruction.
    2. the French have contrarian opinions of international politics then the US Republicans.
    3. the French are now starting a project to bypass the capitalistic economy of US software industry, taking on a socialistic slant to their ideologies.
    making France a ripe target for mass invasion by the USA.

    Oh wait... Never mind. This is all old news. We already invaded them once, they already have weapons of mass destruction, and they don't like us.

    "de Gaulle" be praised!

  7. Then it's much better than XP by mangu · · Score: 2, Funny
    Last time I tried installing XP from scratch it took me about two weeks to get it working. That was five years ago, and it still isn't working without problems.


    OTOH Linux, as you say, can start working on the same day, unless, of course, you start the installation less than ten minutes before midnight, in which case it won't be working until the next day.