[ Thanks to Kyösti Karjula for
this link. ]
A group of Finnish MPs have signed a bill requiring national and
local agencies to migrate their IT systems to the Linux operating
system.
The bill, according to Finland MP Kyösti Karjula, is not a
legislative act. In Finland, general bills such as this are meant
to act as encouragement to the government at-large. It is similar
to, for example, a resolution in the US Congress, which convey’s
lawmaker’s wishes and intentions, but does not enact an actual
law.
“The parliament cannot make a law which dictates that national
and local agencies should use only Linux,” Karjula said in a brief
statement to Linux Today this morning. “[With] a general
bill, MPs can require the government to do something.”
This general bill from the MPs is adding impetus to an already
on-going process.
“The Finnish state administration is already considering moving
IT-systems to Linux,” Karjula explained.
The MPs who signed the general bill cited Linux’s security and
reliability over that of other operating systems, according to a
press release issued today. According to Finland’s Ministry of
Finance, the move to Linux will also result in economic benefits,
with substantial savings to that nation.
“Free software and technological independence boost
entrepreneurship and encourage local development. For these
reasons, the bill is important. The Finnish government should be
taking advantage of Finnish Linux,” stated Karjula, the first to
sign the bill. Finnish-born Linus Torvalds is credited with writing
the Linux kernel in 1991.
The Ministry of Finance has estimated that annual savings of 26
million euros could be made by using Linux in state agencies.
Several towns in Finland are already planning to move their IT
systems to Linux.
News of the bill was welcomed by Finnish Linux company, SOT
Finnish Software Engineering. “As a Finnish citizen, I am proud to
see a concrete interest in Linux and the open source environment at
the parliamentary level here in Finland, the home country of Linux
and of Linus,” said Santeri Kannisto, CEO of SOT.
The Finnish bill was inspired in part by Germany’s recent
decision to embrace Linux and Open Source software. Linux has also
found favor within the post office of China, the French ministries
of culture, defense and education, a recent open source software
initiative in Peru, and among many other government agencies in
Europe and Asia.