(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)
Starting with July 2007, the computers used by the French deputies will be equipped with Linux operation system, Open Office software and Firefox browser.
The project, initiated at the request of the General Assembly President, was based on a study made by Atos Origin, a technology services company. The study has shown that the open source software can be adapted to the needs of the Members of the Parliament allowing for serious savings in spite of the costs required by the change.
Benoit Sibaud, the president of APRIL (Association pour la Promotion et la Recherche en Informatique Libre) which is supporting open source, stated that switching to open source will give the French Parliament a better control over its IT systems without being dependent on the software supplier, at the same time giving the possibility to use the public money for better purposes. Previous initiatives in this sense belong to the French Ministry of Agriculture where open source software was chosen for servers and to the French gendarmes who adopted Open Office and Firefox.
Open source software in the General Assembly (only in French - 22.11.2006)
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/presse/divisionpresse/m01.asp
Free Software for the deputies (only in French - 23.11.2006)
http://www.april.org/articles/communiques/20061122-assemblee-nationale...
French parliament dumping Windows for Linux (27.11.2006)
http://news.com.com/2100-7344_3-6138372.html