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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...'"

3 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. Re:mandriva by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Keep the money in their economy. I'd rather have my government paying citizens who will buy goods from other citizens.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  2. Liberté would be a stronger ground to stand o by H4x0r+Jim+Duggan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As Stallman explained at WSIS, if we argue based on cost, they can offer that too, but if we argue based on freedom, they're not even in the running.

    --
    Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
  3. Re:Retraining. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful
    I'm sick of hearing about retraining as being a reason not to change to Linux. The facts are that you're going to have to retrain everyone when you're forced to upgrade anyways. The big difference being that your Linux rollout will cost less, and provide future savings in the form of not having to upgrade and retrain for the next big change in an MS Office menu.
    I'm with you. I know this is going to upset some people, but I don't care. If you really need training to move from Internet Explorer to Firefox, or MS Word to OpenOffice Writer, I think I'd rather replace you than train you. You weren't smart enough to use 95% of the features of the old app, and if you can't pick up the 5% you need in a few days, you were probably going to be lost at the next Office upgrade anyway. Look! File / New! It's still there! Select words! Change font! Print! Center, Justify! My mom made the jump in less than a day, your users can too!