EARLIER ITEM

FREE SOFTWARE MENU

LATER ITEM

BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL PURCHASES STAR OFFICE

Brian Grainger

brian@grainger1.freeserve.co.uk

It is time to praise Bristol City Council for their wisdom and bravery in being one of the largest public bodies in the UK to tell Microsoft to get stuffed.

Bristol City Council announced this week that they are to switch over 5000 desktops from using Microsoft Office and Wordperfect/Lotus 1-2-3 to Star Office from Sun.

(http://www.bristol-city.gov.uk/PressReleaseViewer/viewer.html?pressReleaseId=236418)

There have been mixed signals coming from Government on the use of Open Source software.

Last year Newham Council made a great song and dance about proposing to use Open Source software, only to change their mind at the last minute, after Microsoft visited them and managed to convince them to stay loyal. The amount of money that passed over was never disclosed but it is known that Newham got a substantial discount on their desktop licence costs and a cheap upgrade to their server software. The view of most pundits was that the exercise was never more than a means of forcing Microsoft to lower their costs.

Recently a government trial reported that, in the server arena, Linux was mature enough to be used instead of Windows. While the same report stated that Linux was not mature enough on the desktop, it did say that OpenOfficeOrg, the free software basis of Star Office, was a contender in the office tools market.

Just after this report, things swung back to Microsoft again when it was announced that the National Health Service was to purchase Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office for the integrated IT system they are setting up. This is a huge order and was made after visits by the top men of Microsoft and huge discounts, not only to the NHS but other public bodies that could tie in to the deal. The more units that were bought, the cheaper the unit cost became.

I felt at the time that, while there may be some argument with sticking with Windows on the desktop, there was absolutely no argument for using Microsoft Office. OpenOfficeOrg, or Star Office, are mature enough alternatives. Within the closed environment of the NHS it was the perfect solution to get a good office tools package at very little cost. Instead, they shackle themselves to the Redmond monster.

I applaud Bristol for doing what the NHS should have done. While I would have preferred they had gone the whole hog and got OpenOfficeOrg, I can understand why they have chosen Star Office. There is still this fear in certain quarters of lack of support for Open Source software. I think in the case of OpenOfficeOrg it is not true, as it is becoming the de facto standard office software for Linux and runs on the Windows platform as well. Nevertheless, Councillors have to spend their Council Tax payers money wisely so they think the backup from Sun will protect them from their imagined problems.

Bristol intend to continue using Microsoft Office in the education service, due to the preferential terms given to education by Microsoft. However, they will be able to access Star Office if they want it.

Bristol hopes to save £1.4 million over 5 years by this decision.

TOP