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UPDATED: Linux to become official OS of choice in Norway?Mar 30, 2001, 20:10 (63 Talkback[s])Reader Svein writes: Seen in this article in a Norwegian news paper, Statskonsult (a consulting department of the Norwegian government) is recommending that Linux is to be introduced into all schools and public institutions. At first they see it as a server operating system, with gradual penetration into the desktop realm. In the statement it is said that they see it as a goal to replace the commercially licensed operating systems with the freely licensed ones. As well as releasing back into the community the sourcecode for their own special applications that the goverment owns, as well as demanding that code generated through grants for scientific research is also given out as open source. If they plan to GPL it or not is not mentioned in the article. Such a recommendation can, of course, not go unnoticed, so both the Linux and Microsoft defenders have come out with a response, which can be found here. Basically the Linux people say that they are provoked by a statement saying that Linux is yet not a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows on the dekstop many places, and the Microsoft defender is saying that the choice of OS to use should be facts-oriented, and not political choice, as they should look on stability, economy, user friendliness and security, not on ideology. They also spew out the usual "TCO" stuff we always hear from them (especially here, since the government is usually using their own IT people who they can just as easily train in Linux as in MS products, for support.). The report is here, but unfortunately only in Norwegian. This whole thing seems to be an ongoing trend in Europe these days, after UK put forth the proposal of an EU-wide ban on software patents, as they stifle innovation in an ever growing field of commerce, and the minister of commerce in France pretty much echoed the thoughts of their British neighbors. Thanks to Jon Grov for the translation of the last few paragraphs providing recommendations from the Norwegian Statskonsult: 10.3 Recommendations
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