The French National Assembly is to adopt open source
software for its deputies’ use, from the next legislative
session.
Each deputy’s desktop computer will be equipped with the Linux
operating system, the Open Office productivity suite, the Firefox
internet browser and an open source e-mail application.
The switch comes at the behest of Jean-Louis Debré, president of
the Assembly, who had been approached by several deputies on the
issue. It follows a study carried out with the backing of the
Assembly’s political groups, which found that open source software
now offered the functions the deputies needed and would bring
substantial savings, despite set-up and implementation costs.
The move was a “concrete answer” to many deputies’ calls for
greater use of open source software, an announcement from the
Assembly said.
The French decision follows attempts by governments elsewhere to
shift away from proprietary products and formats.
In June this year, the government of Belgium decided to adopt
the open source Open Document Format across its operations, with
all federal government services expected to be able to handle ODF
files by September 2007. In the US, the Massachusetts state
government is also considering a switch to ODF.
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