In a bid to promote wider competition in public sector
IT, the Office of Government Commerce is sponsoring the trial of
open source software in nine government departments and local
authorities.
The news marks another step on the journey towards the
acceptance of open source and a small detour from the Microsoft
roadmap.
Microsoft is keen to fight this trend and has approached Newham
Borough Council in London, one of the local authorities taking part
in the trial, with the offer of extensive consultancy designed to
highlight the advantages of sticking with Microsoft.
The news is a reminder of how important the public sector is to
Microsoft. Earlier this year it fought a hard battle to stop the
city of Munich going down the open source route. Chief executive
Steve Ballmer even paid a personal visit to negotiate with
officials, but was unsuccessful in his quest.
Microsoft argues that any organisation looking at open source
must consider the total cost of ownership of the operating system.
It is right and the outcome of the trials will be eagerly awaited.
While it is waiting, Microsoft may ponder the consequences of last
year's licensing changes.
In latest survey from public sector IT managers' organisation
Socitm, 71% of its members said changes to Microsoft's licensing
would influence their IT strategies. If these trials prove a
success, we may see more public sector organisations considering an
alternative to Microsoft.