A Quebec open source software group is taking the government there to court for not tendering massive software purchases that are given to Microsoft. The trend worldwide for nations that don’t speak English, is to use Linux and other free software.
While most of the developed countries have started, a few years back, migrating their technological infrastructures to Free Software, Quebec’s public administration is far behind. In France, hundreds of thousands of desktops used by civil servants have been migrated. In the Netherlands, the public administration, one of the most modern in the world, has decided to forbid the use of proprietary software in the public sector.
Adoption of Linux and other open source software in Saskatchewan is poor at best, especially in our government offices and schools.
Slashdot has more discussion.
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huffb1 | 01-Sep-08 at 1:16 pm | Permalink
Lance did a post about this the other day too.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/archives/009409.html
IM2 | OQP » Qu’est-ce qu’un appel d’offre en informatique libre ? | 01-Sep-08 at 2:23 pm | Permalink
[...] anQuébec : le libre attaque les achats logiciels sans appel d’offres (Facil sort son marteau)Why Doesn’t the Government Use Free Software?Kanada: Regierung wegen Kauf bei Microsoft verklagtQuebec Govt Sued For Ignoring Free Software [...]
Saskboy | 01-Sep-08 at 2:34 pm | Permalink
Thanks for linking that huff, I didn’t see it until after I wrote this.
Zach Bell | 01-Sep-08 at 6:37 pm | Permalink
Hhahaha. Neat. Me and that gal were just talking about this and about how she’s going to try and get the Saskatoon Public School Board to adopt open office.
I have to say, after playing around with Ubuntu and Open Office myself, I can’t imagine why public entities would spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on commercial software that not only doe sthe same but is 100% compatible with the free stuff as well.
Saskboy | 01-Sep-08 at 6:40 pm | Permalink
One word answers that Zach:
Marketing.
I almost had the public library system in the province convinced to go to open source database software. There’s still a chance they will, but right now it’s with a proprietary company that owns the code, and wants to obsolete [verb] the current working software so that it won’t even run on dialup (which is something many people would like to be able to run from as an option).
Zach Bell | 01-Sep-08 at 6:46 pm | Permalink
I should clarify that when I say “I can’t imagine why…etc” I’m actually saying, “ARG…STUPID…DUMB…BAG-NOBS!”
Cheers
Andrew | 02-Sep-08 at 1:47 am | Permalink
Good point Saskboy. I like the way you think.
Unfortunately, I doubt that many governments will be willing to make the linux switch. It would be nice if they could at least ditch Office though. .doc and .xls are not meant to be mediums of exchange.
Saskboy | 02-Sep-08 at 8:00 pm | Permalink
The first step as I see it too is to adopt Open Office or any other product that observes open document standards, unlike Microsoft which has complicated document use since the 1980s, needlessly.