Do you associate the French with advanced implementations of Gnu/Linux? Neither did I. But we are wrong â?? the French are now moving ahead in implementing FOSS in government.
Apparently the servers of the French Gendarmes run on â??open sourceâ?? and also the Ministry of Culture. But in June 2007 the PCs in French deputes’ offices will be equipped with a Gnu/Linux operating system and open-source productivity software.
The results of an earlier study showed positive results:
â??The study showed that open-source software will from now on offer functionality adapted to the needs of MPs (members of parliament) and will allow us to make substantial savings despite the associated migration and training costsâ?¦â?? (News.com)
Swedes like to think of ourselves as being technologically advanced (which we are) but we are really falling far behind in the high level use of FOSS in government. It would be an excellent opportunity to take advantage of Microsoft Vista to go Gnu/Linux…
More info: Open source software in the General Assembly (in French), Free Software for the deputies (in French).